ArcelorMittal Poland, a subsidiary of global steel producer ArcelorMittal, has postponed the restart of blast furnace No. 3 at the Dąbrowa Górnicza plant to early January, according to local media. The company had shut down its blast furnace No. 3 at the beginning of September amid the slowdown of economic activity in Europe, the decrease in demand, increasing levels of imports from outside the EU, and increasing natural gas and electricity prices, as SteelOrbis previously reported. The blast furnace was planned to be restarted in mid-December, but the restart has been postponed since there is no improvement in the market and a recovery is not expected in the coming weeks.
The employees are afraid of that the temporary shutdown might be permanent like in Kraków steelworks, as happened a few years ago. ArcelorMittal Poland had idled the blast furnace at its Krakow plant in November 2019 and closed it permanently in October 2020. Speaking to local media, ArcelorMittal Poland communications manager Monika Olech stated that they understand the concerns of the employees, but blast furnace No. 3 will certainly be brought back into operation before the planned overhaul of blast furnace No. 2. Olech also noted that they do not assume a scenario that two furnaces will not work at the same time. The restart of blast furnace No. 3 will depend on the market situation, though it is planned for early January.
ArcelorMittal Poland’s range of products includes profiles, rails, fittings for the construction, transport and mining industries, as well as flat products for the automotive industry and domestic appliances.