ArcelorMittal to stop Poland BF by end-March for environmental upgrade

Global steelmaker ArcelorMittal plans to idle one blast-furnace in Poland by the end of March for a major upgrade, the company said on Friday March 24.
The company will shut down its BF2 unit in Dabrowa Gornicza, with capacity for 2.4 million tonnes per year of crude steel, for three months to perform the upgrade, which is intended to increase efficiency and reduce the furnace’s environmental impact.

The project cost was expected to be 720 million zloty ($167 million).

ArcelorMittal’s 2.4 million-tpy BF3 at the same site will remain operational.

The 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 bar and long rails.

Dabrowa Górnicza has supplied slab to feed ArcelorMittal’s rolling mills in Krakow since 2020, when the company permanently shut down the hot area there.

Market sources were worried about whether the impending closure would aggravate the supply tightness in the European market for hot-rolled coil.

Earlier this week, ArcelorMittal was forced to stop its 2.7 million-tpy BF-A in Gijon, Spain, after a fire broke out.

Separately, Tata Steel was expected to stop one 3.5 million-tpy blast-furnace next week at its IJmuiden site in the Netherlands for maintenance.

Published by: Julia Bolotova