A spokesperson from Tata Steel Netherlands, a subsidiary of Indian steelmaker Tata Steel, has stated that the company has restarted its blast furnace No. 6 in IJmuiden a few days ago. The company plans to work towards a full ramp-up in the production of pig iron.
The furnace had been idled in March 2023 for maintenance works and the restart of the furnace was delayed amid technical issues. The blast furnace No. 6 has an annual production capacity of 2.5 million mt, while total production capacity of two blast furnaces in IJmuiden is estimated at around 6 million mt of pig iron, SteelOrbis heard.
The restart of Tata Steel Netherlands’ furnace along with the restart of other steelmaking capacities, such as resumption of blast furnace A at Salzgitter may affect the fragile uptrend in prices in Europe.