Badische Stahlwerke postpones EAF modernisation

German rebar mill Badische Stahlwerke has postponed the overhaul of one of its electric arc furnaces, a measure which many buyers had feared would aggravate the prevailing shortage of rebar.

Badische has two production lines. One of its EAFs would have been revamped during a period of around six weeks, Kallanish hears from an insider. An official statement was not forthcoming. The measure would have meant a company-wide production outage for almost the full duration of the revamp. Although the measure was to be carried out only on one line, the neighbouring unit would have been affected by the works as well, the source explains.

The postponement is not directly related to the critical supply-demand balance for rebar, but to the risks associated with the coronavirus, he adds. “There would have been contracted companies involved, so we would have more traffic of personnel,” he explains. The company therefore decided to postpone the revamp to avoid the risk of contagion.

Badische will now have a regular winter shutdown of two weeks, with production resuming around 6 January. The upgrade measure is now projected to be carried out next winter, the source says.