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ArcelorMittal to Restart Blast Furnace at Spanish Steel Plant
01/10/2013 - ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, will restart blast furnace B at its Gijón plant in Spain on Jan. 15 after a six-month shutdown for maintenance works amid weak market conditions, the company said on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, will restart blast furnace B at its Gijón plant in Spain on Jan. 15 after a six-month shutdown for maintenance works amid weak market conditions, the company said on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
The steelmaker said the decision to restart the furnace was prompted by a recent agreement on tariffs reached with the port of Gijón, expectations of new electricity tariffs, and an agreement with unions that introduces more flexible labor conditions and a labor cost reduction.
"All these measures have contributed to reinforcing the competitiveness of the products manufactured by the Spanish units of the company, improving their ability to access export markets in a context marked by a drop of more than 25 percent in steel consumption in southern Europe, a situation which is further aggravated in Spain by the collapse of the construction sector and severe decline in private consumption," the steel producer said in a statement…
