ArcelorMittal Bremen to shut down blast furnace №2 in October

ArcelorMittal, one of the world’s largest steel producers, plans to suspend blast furnace №2 at the German ArcelorMittal Bremen steel plant for scheduled maintenance in October 2023. GMK Center was informed about this by the press service of the company.

The unit will be suspended for 30 days from October 5, 2023. In addition, from October 9, the company will suspend blast furnace №3 for 5 days for repair work. Thus, the plant will completely suspend pig iron smelting for several days. The capacity of two furnaces is 3.6 million tons of pig iron per year.

The suspension of blast furnace №2 will include a shutdown for the repair of the sinter plant. Work on the unit is planned to be completed in 60 days, starting from October 1.

In the fall of 2022, ArcelorMittal stopped one from two blast furnaces at a flat rolled mill in Bremen, Germany. The total capacity of both BFs is 3.8 million tons of steel per year.

In February 2023 the company reported on increasing production at the plant. Blast furnaces returned to normal operation.

As GMK Center reported earlier, steel enterprises of Germany in January-August 2023 reduced steel production by 4.2% compared to the same period in 2022 – to 24.33 million tons. In August, steel production decreased by 1% y/y and by 2.7% m/m – to 2.84 million tons.