ArcelorMittal’s Italian subsidiary is to restart blast furnace No 4. at the Taranto steelworks in June, a company representative tells Kallanish.
Acciaierie d’Italia, the new joint venture between ArcelorMittal and the state-owned Invitalia, is boosting output amidst concerns over the current short supply of coils. This month ArcelorMittal has received the first €400 million ($483m) of new equity from Invitalia. The €400m investment from Italian authorities has been the object of a dispute between the two companies due to Invitalia’s failure to meet the payment deadline (see Kallanish 15 April).
At the moment the steelmaker formerly known as Ilva is not quoting for hot rolled coils. The representative says that BF No. 4 will add a daily 15,000 tonnes of crude steel output.
In February the company restarted blast furnace No. 2. In June the Taranto steelworks will be again producing with three blast furnaces (BF no. 1, 2, 4). Meltshop no.1 and BF no.4 were idled in March for maintenance works, Kallanish notes.
ArcelorMittal last year signed a binding agreement with Invitalia to form a 50-50 public-private partnership to operate the Taranto steelworks (see Kallanish passim).
Natalia Capra France
