Liberty Steel is currently working on a green transformation of Hungarian steel plant Dunaferr after acquiring it in a tender last month, according to a company letter shared with industry source S&P Global Commodity.
"Dunaferr steel plant has been saved, but now it needs to be refurbished and prepared for a sustainable long-term future,” Liberty Steel European Chairman Ajay Aggarwal and Chief Investment Officer Sandeep Biswas said in a letter. Just over a month ago, UK-listed Liberty Steel won a tender to acquire Dunaferr.
However, the sale is not yet complete as the European Commission has not yet approved the acquisition, forcing the liquidator to exercise ownership rights and make strategic decisions. The letter mentions the understanding between the liquidator and Dunaferr's management regarding the difficult European market conditions and particularly high levels of foreign steel imports into the EU, high energy prices and the additional cost of meeting EU carbon standards, and the need for a suspension. steel production, as these conditions continue.
Thus, the liquidator agreed to Liberty's proposal to temporarily and indefinitely stop steelmaking and decommission Blast Furnace No. 2 - the last of the plant's two blast furnaces - and reduce the work of the coke plant to a technological minimum. However, the rolling mill continues to process slab billets, the letter says.
Liberty Steel has been working closely with the liquidator to help restart blast and coke ovens since late 2022, when Dunaferr was in poor condition due to the closure of key facilities Dunaferr, as well as steel production and rolling mills.
Liberty Steel previously informed the market about the transition to green work at its other large Eastern European plant and Romania's largest steel plant, Liberty Galati. A little over a year ago, Liberty announced that it was going to hold a tender to select a supplier of hybrid electric arc furnace technology needed to produce low-carbon steel in Galati, but it was never completed.
