Benjamin Baptista, ArcelorMittal's South American flat steel division CEO, expects that in July, two of the company's three blast furnaces in Brazil will return to full capacity, according to a report by a local newspaper Tuesday.
The two furnaces, located at the Tubarao steel mill in Espirito Santo State, are currently operating at 80 percent of their combined total 6.2 million mt capacity. The third furnace, which has a capacity of 1.3 million mt, is scheduled to restart in the second quarter of next year, the report explained.
An additional furnace for preheating steel slabs was restarted at the company's nearby Serra plant on June 11, said Baptista. He added, "With this we're ready to meet any rise in demand for hot rolled steel in the country because we're increasing the supply of hot rolled coils by nearly 50 percent."
ArcelorMittal Tubarao expects to produce five million tons of steel slabs this year, which is about two million mt less than what was produced in 2008, yet it expects to raise its rolled steel output from 2.8 million mt to four million mt, Baptista said.
The firm's $128 million investment in a new galvanization unit at its Vega do Sul mill in Santa Catarina State, with 300,000 tons annual capacity, is still underway. With the new additions, the Vega do Sul mill, which has 500,000 tons capacity, will be able to meet any increase in demand for flat steel products in Brazil and South America in the next three years, explained Baptista.