Kallanish reported that while steel supply has been critically short in Europe since autumn last year, steel makers ArcelorMittal and thyssenkrupp have scheduled relines at major blast furnaces. ArcelorMittal’s Flat Products Europe marketing head Laurent Plasman told Kallanish European Steel Markets conference “No, there is no conspiracy to it. The company is big in Europe and hence needs to carry out larger maintenance at some site or other every year, he noted. Most recently, it undertook a reline of a big BF in Gent, which was restarted in March. We would have wished not to have it and leave the market to competitors. A reline in a high cycle is painful; we all want to make money with steel produced and sold.” Along similar lines, thyssenkrupp’s distribution unit Materials Services Martin Stillger answered on behalf of the group’s steelmaking unit. He told “Tk Steel will start shutting down one of its Duisburg BFs next month for a three-month reline. We had postponed the measure already, so it is now or never if you want to keep the asset. It has nothing to do with the market scenario.”
Kallanish reported that while steel supply has been critically short in Europe since autumn last year, steel makers ArcelorMittal and thyssenkrupp have scheduled relines at major blast furnaces. ArcelorMittal’s Flat Products Europe marketing head Laurent Plasman told Kallanish European Steel Markets conference “No, there is no conspiracy to it. The company is big in Europe and hence needs to carry out larger maintenance at some site or other every year, he noted. Most recently, it undertook a reline of a big BF in Gent, which was restarted in March. We would have wished not to have it and leave the market to competitors. A reline in a high cycle is painful; we all want to make money with steel produced and sold.” Along similar lines, thyssenkrupp’s distribution unit Materials Services Martin Stillger answered on behalf of the group’s steelmaking unit. He told “Tk Steel will start shutting down one of its Duisburg BFs next month for a three-month reline. We had postponed the measure already, so it is now or never if you want to keep the asset. It has nothing to do with the market scenario.”
