NLMK terminates La Louviere force majeures

Russian steelmaker NLMK has terminated two force majeures at its La Louviere and Strasbourg sites in Belgium, the company said in letters to customers earlier this week.

The company sent a letter on 19 July informing customers that a fire on its hot-rolled line had interrupted production and deliveries from NLMK Sales Europe. In a letter sent on 27 July, the company said production had restarted effective 25 July and the force majeure had been terminated.

In a separate letter, sent on 20 July, NLMK declared force majeure as inclement weather interrupted coil deliveries to NLMK Strasbourg, impacting hot-dip galvanised and pre-paint production and deliveries to customers.

After "intensive repairs" on the rail network, the company resumed deliveries of coil to Strasbourg on 27 July, and has subsequently terminated that force majeure as well. The rail force majeure was less known in the market, with the fire and interruption of hot-rolled production at La Louviere getting most attention.

In both letters the company said it had amassed further backlogs that would need to be worked through.

NLMK was not the only producer to declare force majeure last week. Germany's Salzgitter also declared force majeure for material stocked in Hagen on 22 July. In its note to customers the company said the stock did not meet the standards of undamaged prime material, so its specifications and technical properties could no longer be guaranteed — it hoped some material could be saved through pickling, trimming or cropping, but much of it might need to be scrapped.

Salzgitter said it would replace the damaged goods, but this could take around 10 weeks. German producer ThyssenKrupp earlier declared force majeure as flooding damaged hundreds of kilometres of rail track in Germany, interrupting deliveries.

By Colin Richardson and Brendan Kjellberg-Motton