Japan-based Nippon Steel Corporation has announced that it plans to restart its blast furnace No. 2 at its Kimitsu works in Chiba Prefecture by the end of this year due to rising orders from domestic automobile and consumer electronics industries, according to Tokyo-based media organization Nikkei.
The blast furnace was idled in June amid the sudden drop in steel demand as a result of the coronavirus. The company’s restarting of the blast furnace will restore Japan’s crude steel capacity to 90 percent of pre-coronavirus levels, as SteelOrbis understands.
Nippon Steel had idled some other blast furnaces in April due to the decline in demand.