ArcelorMittal to reline blast furnace B at Ghent works

ArcelorMittal will take blast furnace B at its Ghent plant in Belgium out of service for a reline in September.

The 2.3mn t/yr furnace will be offline for 2-3 months while the work is completed. Before the reline, the company will build up slab supply, removing capacity from the already tightening coil market. The Ghent site can produce over 5.5mn t/yr of crude steel.

Ghent has a wide hot strip mill, two cold rolling mills and three hot-dip galvanising lines, as well as two pickling lines and an organic coating line.

The prospect of reduced supply could further support coil prices. Argus' daily northwest European hot-rolled index had risen to €454.25/t ex-works yesterday from €439.25/t ex-works on 2 January, with all major mills hiking their offers. The realignment of apparent and real demand, after last year's destocking, has supported higher offers, as has a lack of import penetration, with imports trading at a premium of about €30/t to domestic coil.

By Colin Richardson