Brazilian integrated steelmaker Gerdau has announced that it will suspend the operations at blast furnace No. 2 at its Ouro Branco mill located in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais in April due to lower demand from the industrial and construction sectors as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. The blast furnace has an annual crude steel production capacity of 1.5 million mt.
Gerdau stated that it will continue to operate its blast furnace No. 1, which has an annual production capacity of 3 million mt, at its Ouro Branco mill.
Besides, the company will also halt some electric melt shops and long steel rolling mills in Brazil during this month, while it will carry out planned maintenance outages at its special steel divisions in Brazil and the US in the same period, taking into account inventory levels and customer demand.
In South America, the company has idled its operations located in Argentina and Peru due to the restrictions imposed by the governments in both countries, including suspension of deliveries to customers.