Brazilian flats steelmaker Usiminas plans to resume operations at its No. 1 blast furnace at its Ipatinga mill next month, as the local economy shows signs of recovery.
The company’s No. 1 blast furnace is currently in a test phase and has followed the expected schedule. As previously reported by SteelOrbis, Usiminas will invest about BRL 80 million to restart the equipment.
The restart will help Usiminas increase pig iron output 2,000 mt/day or 500,000-600,000 mt/year, reducing the need for it to buy third-party slab.