voestalpine Returns Idled Blast Furnace to Service
01/21/2021 - voestalpine has restarted the second blast furnace at its Donawitz site in Austria to meet rising long products demand, the steelmaker has said.
In a statement Thursday, voestalpine said that with the restart of the 750,000-metric-ton unit, all five of its blast furnaces are now in service and producing hot metal.
voestalpine said the decision to restart the Donawitz furnace was prompted by improving demand for wire and seamless tube following the COVID-19 slump in the automotive and oil and gas sectors.
“The current market situation is stimulating demand for prematerials in the metal engineering division’s business segments, making it necessary to restart the second blast furnace in Donawitz,” it said.
However, the company said the economic view over the next several months remains “extremely uncertain” due to the pandemic and continued lockdown measures in many countries.
voestalpine said the decision to restart the Donawitz furnace was prompted by improving demand for wire and seamless tube following the COVID-19 slump in the automotive and oil and gas sectors.
“The current market situation is stimulating demand for prematerials in the metal engineering division’s business segments, making it necessary to restart the second blast furnace in Donawitz,” it said.
However, the company said the economic view over the next several months remains “extremely uncertain” due to the pandemic and continued lockdown measures in many countries.
