The Ukrainian steel producer and one of the country's largest pig iron exporters Donetskstal has decided as of June 1, 2010 to stop operations at one of its two blast furnaces (BFs) for a period of one month, considering the complicated situation in the world pig iron market.
Accordingly, due to low sales prices for pig iron and increased raw material purchasing costs, economic experts at the plant consider that the operation of one BF is the optimal way of organizing the plant's operations in June. The idling of BF No. 2, with a 55,000 mt monthly capacity, will allow the plant to reduce its output and to focus on reducing its costs, as well as to carry out some planned repairs of the BF shop's infrastructure. According to reports, the production target for BF No.1 alone, which has a 90,000 mt monthly capacity, has now been set at about 58,000-59,000 mt of pig iron per month.
In September 2008, Donetskstal developed and tested costless technology for soft stoppage of the furnaces, which, in case of market stabilization, allows the plant to quickly restart operations at the furnaces and to reach previous output levels.
Donetskstal also noted that, despite the stoppage of BF No.2, it will be able to fulfill its obligations to consumers.
In April this year, Donetskstal saw its pig iron output decrease by 3.3 percent year on year to 117,000 mt. Meanwhile, in January-April 2010, Donetskstal increased its pig iron production by 17 percent to 486,000 mt, its crude steel output by 5.8 percent to 200,000 mt and its finished steel production by 21.2 percent to 183,000 mt, all compared to the same period last year.