Voestalpine will stop one of the BFs in Linz for maintenance in August

The planned repair of the unit will last three months

In August 2023, the Austrian steel company Voestalpine plans to shut down one of the three blast furnaces (BFs) at the plant in Linz for maintenance. Argus.Media reports about it.

The plant in Linz is equipped with three blast furnaces with a total capacity of 5 million tons of pig iron per year. Blast furnace A, which is capable of producing about 3.3 million tons of pig iron/year, is the most powerful at the plant.

Planned repairs will be carried out on one of the smallest domains – BF №5. The production capacity of the unit is 840,000 tons of pig iron per year. During August-October 2023, the company plans to replace the lining of the BF.

The Voestalpine steel plant in Linz specializes in the production of steel for the automotive sector. 38% of the steel division’s revenue comes from supplies to this sector.

The maintenance of the unit is scheduled for the period of the lowest demand for the steel coil market, so the decrease in mill capacity will not be reflected in pricing or product supply.

Some European steel producers are also planning technical maintenance for this period, in particular, the Slovak steel plant US Steel Kosice will stop one of the blast furnaces for maintenance in August 2023.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2021/2022 financial year, Voestalpine increased revenue by 36.9% compared to the previous year – up to €14.9 billion. EBITDA for the year doubled compared to the previous year – €2.3 billion.

In the near future, the company plans to invest almost €100 million in expansion of hot-dip galvanizing lines at the plant in Linz. Investments will make it possible to improve the quality of production of galvanized and uncoated cold-rolled products, as well as to meet the future growing demand for high-quality products.