“We are scheduled to shut down one of our blast furnaces in August due to maintenance work,” a Fastmarkets representative said.
USSK has three blast furnaces with a total capacity of about 4.5 million tons of pig iron in year. All three are working, the representative said.
The company produces hot-rolled, cold-rolled and hot-dip galvanized coil.
According to Fastmarkets , blast furnace No. 2 at the Košice smelter was shut down for scheduled maintenance in March and resumed operation in June.
The representative did not specify which plant would be closed this time or for how long.
“The further configuration of production depends on the development of market conditions. In any case, we will satisfy the needs of our customers as much as possible,” the representative said.
The European flat-rolled market will shrink in 2024
The economic situation in the European flat-rolled market, where USSK is active, has been deteriorating in recent months, and steel prices are under pressure.
In February, the Fastmarkets price index for hot-rolled steel coils on the domestic market, ex-w Northern Europe, averaged €738.28 ($797.42) per tonne ex-works.
In March, the average monthly price fell to €691.99 per tonne ex-works, and prices continued to decline in April to an average of €638.32 per tonne ex-works.
HRC prices in Europe have generally remained stable since May, despite efforts by steel companies to push for higher prices.
The average monthly price for July was €629.12 per tonne ex-works, with the latest Fastmarkets Northern European Hot Rolled Steel Daily Index calculated on Thursday at €620.74 per tonne.
Industry sources describe the European flat steel market as "severely oversupplied" and suggest further steel production cuts could follow in the fourth quarter of 2024.
"If real steel demand does not pick up in September, we could see falling prices at the end of 2024,” said a steel distributor in Northern Europe.
“European mills already faced a similar situation last year and responded with large-scale cuts in steel production at the end of 2023. Perhaps this year we will see a similar scenario,” he added.
