ArcelorMittal Poland has announced that it will restart its blast furnace in Krakow in March. The decision, explained director general Marc De Pauw, "results from the need to deliver slabs to ArcelorMittal steelworks in Ghent, Belgium, where an overhaul of the blast furnace is starting, as well as the need to make up for production shortages in ArcelorMittal Europe plants."
The blast furnace and the steel plant in Krakow have been temporarily shut down since late November. At the time, the company had announced that the shutdown would last for "at least several months".
ArcelorMittal Poland contributes about 70 percent of the total steel production in Poland. The company has factories in Krakow, Dąbrowa Górnicza, Sosnowiec, Świętochłowice, and Chorzów, as well as the largest European coke plant in Zdzieszowice.