Merchant steel bar producer Beltrame suspends production in France

Europe’s largest merchant steel bar producer, the Beltrame group, has temporarily closed its French operation, Lamines Marchands Europeens, in Trith Saint Leger until the end of March because of the coronavirus pandemic, a Beltrame spokesperson said Wednesday.

The LME plant in northern France has an electric arc furnace with a capacity of 850,000 mt a year and two rolling mills. Beltrame is based in Vicenza in Northern Italy.

Beltrame’s works in Vicenza has one EAF with a capacity of 1 million mt/year crude steel capacity and two rolling mills. In Vicenza, the company will suspend production at its EAF but only for few days until the middle of next week, while the rolling mills were halted Wednesday also for a few days to sanitize the area.

This is the second time the company has done so to comply with all the new measures on coronavirus. Beltrame has also reduced operations at its re-roller units, in San Giovanni in Tuscany and in San Didero in Piedmont.

Beltrame was continuing to deliver orders across Europe but there were delays because of the restrictions now in force on the borders, the spokesperson said.

— Annalisa Villa