ArcelorMittal to stop Gijon blast furnace B in July for 40-45 days

Thursday, 17 May 2012 17:41:56 (GMT+2)

Global steel giant ArcelorMittal has announced that it will stop blast furnace B at its Gijon plant in Spain in July in order carry out relining work, while in June it will restart its plant in Sestao near Bilbao, Spain.

ArcelorMittal said that the scheduled 40-45 day halt at the Gijon plant will not affect workers, most of which will take their annual leave in August and will then resume work at blast furnace A upon their return. Blast furnace B at the Gijon plant has an annual output capacity of 2.2 million mt.

ArcelorMittal's two electric arc furnaces in Sestao in Spain's Basque Country have been idle since November 2011, due to poor demand in the region. The steelworks will restart production at 800,000 mt per year, the company said, compared to a maximum production capacity of 1.8 million mt.

"These two measures together mean that production capacity will remain static in line with the prevailing low levels of general demand for steel in the region," a spokesman for the company said.

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