ArcelorMittal assessing fire damage at Asturias BF

Major European steelmaker ArcelorMittal is assessing the extent of damage caused to a blast furnace (BF) after a fire broke out at the Asturias site on Wednesday.

BF A caught fire on Wednesday evening during a routine maintenance operation at the Gijon plant. Contact between water and hot metal in the hearth of the furnace is thought to have caused the reaction. The fire was contained in just over an hour, and no injuries were sustained.

The extent of the damage to the BF and outage to production is yet unclear, as work continues to cool the facility. The incident raises further concerns about the company's delivery service within Europe, market participants said.

The Asturias site, made up of two factories — Aviles and Gijon — has a capacity close to 5mn t/yr, and manufactures thick plate as well as rail and wire rod. Slab produced at the Gijon blast furnaces is used for rolling at Aviles. An outage at the site could place upwards price pressure on an already tight European slab market, which has already been trending upwards over the past few months.

BF A was brought back on line in early February following a period in which it was idled owing to poor market conditions. BF B at the site remains operational.

By Lizzy Lancaster