Brazilian integrated flat steel maker Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN) has confirmed that it will shut down its No. 2 blast furnace for 49 days, starting March 22, 2009.
The shutdown in question had originally been planned for February 15 to take advantage of a retraction in the steel market; however, a slight improvement in the iron ore and steel business in mid-January led to its postponement to March.
CSN's No. 2 blast furnace accounts for 40 percent of the annual production capacity of 5.6 million mt of the company's main steel mill at Volta Redonda in the state of Rio de Janeiro.