Italian manufacturer of hot-rolled coils and thick rolled products Ferriera Valsider, owned by Metinvest, has reportedly declared force majeure after an unexpected breakdown led to a complete shutdown of its production lines, according to a customer notification reviewed by Kallanish.
The company says the incident occurred in recent days and affected its ability to fulfill existing supply contracts.
"In recent days, an extraordinary, sudden and unforeseen malfunction has occurred at our production facility. This event, completely beyond our reasonable control and through no fault of our own or negligence, led to the immediate and complete shutdown of our production lines," the notice says.
The manufacturer declares that the incident is subject to the provisions on force majeure contained in article 8 of its general terms and conditions of sale, and therefore suspended the fulfillment of the terms of the contract while the disruptions continue.
"We are currently unable to determine the duration of the force majeure event, which is expected to be significant," the company said in a statement.
Ferriera Valsider adds that it has "already taken all necessary and appropriate actions to manage the emergency situation" and plans to provide customers with an update on the situation to be notified by the end of August. In the meantime, sales representatives will contact customers individually to discuss existing orders.
The notification does not provide detailed information about the nature of the breakdown or the affected equipment. However, Kallanish understands that the suspension of production occurred due to a major incident at the rolling mill, although this information remained unconfirmed at the time of publication.
Metinvest separately confirmed to Kallanish that production has been suspended and technical teams are working to create the necessary repair program.
"Our technical teams are working to identify and implement the shortest possible action plan for necessary repairs in order to restore production to begin as soon as possible," the statement said.
"At this stage, the assessment is still ongoing, and therefore we are not able to give an exact date for the resumption of work. We will inform our stakeholders as the situation develops," the message says.
Ferriera Valsider, located in Vallese di Oppeano, near Verona, is part of the Italian division of the Ukrainian metallurgical company Metinvest. According to market participants, the company is a major importer of slabs from Asia, including China, Vietnam and Indonesia.
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