ArcelorMittal Poland has postponed the restart of its blast furnace (BF) No3 in Dabrowa Górnicza due to poor market fundamentals, Fastmarkets heard on Tuesday December 13.The company idled BF3 in September amid high costs and weak demand for steel products, Fastmarkets reported.
According to several market sources, the blast furnace was expected to be restarted in December, however ongoing weak steel demand, high production costs and high levels of steel imports into the EU have made the restart impossible this year, the company said.
“We have been closely observing the market, the forecasts in terms of a possible raise in demand, the long-awaited improvement of European activity. Unfortunately, this is not yet happening. And we do not see any signs of market recovery in the coming weeks. We still see that our order book continues to be at a level that remains below the minimum working point of two blast furnaces,” the company’s spokesperson told Fastmarkets.
“We continue to be prepared for a restart of BF3, however the exact date will depend on the market situation,” the spokesperson added.
The Dabrowa Górnicza site operates two BFs with a combined capacity of 2.7 million tonnes per year of pig iron. Only BF2 will remain operational at Dabrowa Górnicza before the end of 2022.
Dabrowa Górnicza steelworks has installed capacity to produce 5 million tpy of crude steel. The company can manufacture 3 million tpy of steel slab and about 3 million tpy of billet and bloom. Dabrowa Górnicza also produces merchant bars and long rails.
The site has also supplied slab to ArcelorMittal’s rolling mills in Krakow since 2020, when the company permanently shut down the hot area there.
Published by: Julia Bolotova
