ArcelorMittal Spain has shut down the pickling line at its Avilés plant as part of an €18 million modernization program, according to media reports. The stoppage comes amid broader operational challenges across the company’s Asturias facilities, including ongoing issues restarting blast furnace “B” in Gijón and planned maintenance work on sinter plant “A”.
The Avilés pickling line, which removes oxide scale from hot rolled steel using diluted hydrochloric acid, will remain offline for three weeks. The €18 million upgrade includes replacing the hydrochloric acid storage tanks that feed the process, which treats coils coming out of the hot strip mill.
Ongoing failure of blast furnace “B” causing serious disruption
This modernization forms part of a broader €168 million investment package announced earlier this year for ArcelorMittal’s facilities in Avilés, Gijón, Sagunto, Etxabarri and Lesaka. A significant share of the total investment is earmarked for the hybrid electric arc furnace project in Gijón, while the Avilés pickling line revamp represents a key component of ongoing downstream improvements.
The shutdown will have immediate downstream effects, as the pickling line supplies strip to the tandem mill, temper mill and tinplate lines in Avilés.
ArcelorMittal has been unable to restart blast furnace “B” in Gijón for two months, following a maintenance shutdown during which the unit suffered several fires. Three attempts to restart the furnace using the oxy-lance method, injecting oxygen and propane, have failed due to a large mass of solidified iron inside the vessel.
As a result, the plant is facing an acute shortage of hot metal. With only blast furnace “A” operational, production levels are insufficient to supply all rolling and steelmaking units.
Hot metal shortages force prioritization and interruptions
Due to limited hot metal availability, ArcelorMittal is prioritizing hot strip production for the automotive sector, to avoid penalties, and rail manufacturing, which currently has strong order volumes.
Other downstream facilities are experiencing intermittent stoppages. The company informed employees that the shutdown of the Gijón heavy plate mill would be extended due to a lack of slabs available for rolling.
The Gijón plate mill sources its slabs from the Avilés melt shop, which is currently running at 60 percent of capacity because of the shortage of hot metal. Most of its limited output is being directed to the Avilés hot strip mill.