Salzgitter prepares to shut down for repairs at Blast Furnace A

The German steelmaker Salzgitter is preparing to suspend Blast Furnace A at its plant in Salzgitter (Lower Saxony) for a planned renovation in the near future. This is reported by S&P Global with the reference to a company representative.

According to him, this will not affect the ability to deliver finished products to customers, as sufficient measures have been taken to take into account the suspension of the unit.

In May 2023, at the release of the results for the first quarter, Salzgitter announced that it had approved lining replacement of blast furnace A to ensure long-term domestic supply of pig iron. It was expected that maintenance would probably last until September 2023. It was also noted that production losses during the project implementation phase would be offset by an increase in slab inventories and a restart after a long downtime of Blast Furnace C at the same plant.

A source familiar with the matter confirmed that Salzgitter is continuing to restart Blast Furnace C. The company intends to operate two blast furnaces while BF A continues to upgrade, but Salzgitter declined to provide further details.

In the first quarter of 2023, Salzgitter reduced steel production by 7.5% compared to the same period in 2022, to 1.58 million tons. The plant in Lower Saxony in January-March provided two-thirds of the company’s commercial steel production. Results for the second quarter and first half will be published in August.

Salzgitter expected demand to rise further into 2023. However, in the July update, the forecasts became less optimistic – the steelmaker expects a weaker second half of the year amid political and economic instability.

As GMK Center reported earlier, at the end of June, Salzgitter announced force majeure on steel deliveries after heavy rains and floods in Germany, warning of a reduction in production and delays in shipping products. Heavy rainstorms on June 22-23 damaged production equipment at the company’s Salzgitter plant. Water ingress into the workshops, basements and power supply systems of the enterprise caused significant damage and a short circuit. As a result, the work of some divisions was temporarily suspended, as well as the supply of raw materials. The flood also damaged freshly produced material.