In a press release Italian steel producer Lucchini Group has announced that its Piombino, Italy-based blast furnace will remain idle for four straight weeks in August. After the summer break, smelting activity at the blast furnace will restart in the first week of September. The blast furnace stoppage will also affect other downstream production lines, which will not receive the necessary input in order to be operative.
Local media had previously reported that during the week of August 5-12 the blast furnace would be idled to allow the relining of refractory material. The increase in the stoppage period has been decided against the background of current weak demand.