Polish Huta Częstochowa plans to produce 20 thousand tons of steel in February

On Monday, January 20, 2025, the Polish steel plant Huta Częstochowa resumed operations after more than a year of downtime. The company is expected to produce 10 thousand tons of steel by the end of January, and in February the volume will increase to 20 thousand tons. This was reported by wnp.pl.

“The furnace heating started at 6 a.m., and at 9 a.m. the first batch of scrap was loaded for continuous production,” the statement said.

The opening of production was attended by Minister of Industry Marzena Czarnecka, Minister of Health and MP from Czestochowa Izabela Leszczyna, and Deputy Minister of State Assets Robert Kropyvnytskyi. Huta Częstochowa currently employs about 1000 people.

“This is a great day for us. We have started continuous production and plan to increase volumes. In February, the trained staff and modernized equipment will allow us to produce 20 thousand tons of steel, and by May we will reach 45 thousand tons,” commented Adrian Sinicki, Vice President of Węglokoks.

The launch became possible thanks to the active actions of Węglokoks, which leased the plant after its bankruptcy. However, the future of Huta Częstochowa is still uncertain: an auction will be held in mid-February, where Węglokoks has the right of first refusal. Other bidders are expected to participate.

The Minister of Industry Marzena Czarnecka emphasized that Huta Częstochowa is a strategic object for the Polish economy. She assured that the government will make every effort to keep the plant under Polish control.

“We are working on a new strategy for the steel industry that will take into account the role of coke as a strategic raw material,” said Czarnecka.

As GMK Center reported earlier, the liquidator of Huta Częstochowa presented the court with the valuation and auction rules, setting the starting price of the company at PLN 227 million ($54.9 million). The auction is expected to be announced on February 17.

The plant is currently leased by the state-owned Węglokoks holding, which is actively working to restore its operations. In December 2024, the key equipment of the steel shop and the heavy plate mill was cold-started. On January 10, 2025, after more than a year’s break, the plant carried out its first test steelmaking.