According to market sources, global steel giant ArcelorMittal has informed its customers that starting from September this year it will carry out the relining of its furnace B at ArcelorMittal Gent. The plant is located in Ghent, Belgium, and includes two blast furnaces, two sinter plants, a coking plant with two coke-oven batteries, a wide hot strip mill, two cold rolling lines, two pickling lines, three hot dip galvanizing lines, and an organic coating line. The plant’s crude steel production capacity amounts to at least 5.5 million metric tons per year.
The furnace on which the works will be carried out has a capacity of 2.3 million mt per year. As it will remain idle for two or three months, ArcelorMittal will aim at increasing its slab stocks by September. Sources polled by SteelOrbis foresee a further reduction in the supply of coils which should contribute to supporting prices at the European level, together with the firmness of iron ore prices, the high import offers, and an improvement in demand.