The board of Brazilian flats producer Usiminas agreed to restart its No. 1 blast furnace located at its Ipatinga mill by April 2018, the company said late Thursday following a board meeting.
As previously reported by SteelOrbis, the company’s No. 1 blast furnace at the Ipatinga mill was idled in June 2015 due to sluggish domestic demand, which forced the company to adjust its production volume at the time.
Usiminas said the restart of the No. 1 blast furnace will cost about BRL 80 million ($25.6 million).
Although the company did not provide a specific production increase figure, local news sources estimate that Usiminas’ steel output could increase as much as 600,000 mt/year as the idled equipment resumes production.
The move is also expected to enable the steelmaker to source less slab supply from third party companies.