Liberty Steel’s Italian re-rolling plant, Magona, will resume production on 28 July, sources close to the company tell Kallanish.
The plant, however, will be idled again between 14 and 23 August. Magona has received 20,000 tonnes of hot rolled coil feedstock from Liberty Galati and bought 10,000t from traders, which will only give visibility on production until 23 August. After this date, workers hope to receive another batch of HRC to continue production into September.
No HRC supply is expected from ArcelorMittal’s Fos-sur-Mer plant, a former supplier of Magona. Liberty is said to be trying to repay the outstanding debt that its Liege plant has with ArcelorMittal Fos-sur-Mer, so that the latter can resume supplying HRC to its re-rolling plants, including Magona.
Magona’s pickling line, rolling mill, galvanising line no.5 and coating line no.2 will now resume production. Galvanising line no.4 and coating line no.1 will remain idled. Galvanising line no.2 has been idled for several years and needs a costly revamp.
Magona’s monthly need of HRC is approximately 45,000-50,000t, or 600,000 t/year. Galati may be able to supply approximately 380,000 t/y, while the rest will be bought on the national and international markets, sources say.
Liberty plans to merge its Liège-Dudelange and Magona coil processing plants into the Liberty Galati organisation (see Kallanish passim). The Romanian steelworks will become their primary HRC provider, to ensure sustainable feedstock supply. The company will submit on 28 July the merger plan to the Italian government, Kallanish understands.
Liberty declined to comment.
Natalia Capra France
