Metinvest’s Italian hot-rolled coil and heavy plate producer Ferriera Valsider has reportedly declared force majeure after an unexpected breakdown caused the complete shutdown of its production lines, according to a customer notification seen by Kallanish.
The company says the incident occurred in recent days and has impacted its ability to fulfil existing supply contracts.
“In the past days, our production facility was affected by an extraordinary, sudden, and unforeseeable breakdown. This event, entirely beyond our reasonable control and not due to our fault or negligence, resulted in the immediate and complete shutdown of our production lines,” the notification says.
The producer says the incident falls under the force majeure provisions contained in Article 8 of its general terms and conditions of sale and has therefore suspended contractual performance terms while the disruption continues.
“At this time, we are unable to determine the duration of the force majeure event, which is expected to be significant,” the company says.
Ferriera Valsider adds that it has “already taken all necessary and appropriate actions to manage the emergency” and plans to provide customers with an update on the situation by the end of August. Sales representatives will meanwhile contact customers individually to discuss existing orders.
The notification provides no details on the nature of the breakdown, or the equipment affected. However, Kallanish understands the suspension follows a major incident at the rolling mill, although this remains unconfirmed at the time of publication.
Metinvest has separately confirmed to Kallanish that production has been suspended and technical teams are working to establish the necessary repair programme.
“Our technical teams are working to define and implement the shortest possible action plan for the necessary repairs, with the objective of restoring production as soon as possible,” it says.
“At this stage, the assessment is still ongoing and we are therefore not in a position to provide a reliable timeframe for the resumption of operations. We will keep our stakeholders informed as the situation develops,” it adds.
Ferriera Valsider, located in Vallese di Oppeano near Verona, is part of Ukrainian steelmaker Metinvest’s Italian operations. The company is a large importer of slab from Asia, including China, Vietnam and Indonesia, according to market participants.
That the disruption comes shortly after Metinvest halted operations at its Zaporizhstal steelworks in Ukraine following a Russian ballistic missile strike on the company’s Zaporizhzhia industrial site overnight on 10-11 August. The attack, which killed seven Zaporizhstal employees and injured 21, damaged energy infrastructure and equipment serving coke and blast furnace operations.
