ArcelorMittal reopens blast furnace at Krakow plant

ArcelorMittal Poland decided to reopen the raw materials part of the Krakow Metallurgical Plant, i.e. the blast furnace and the steel plant, which was temporarily stopped at the end of November 2019. According to the company, this should happen in mid-March this year.

ArcelorMittal Poland on November 12 last year announced its decision to temporarily suspend the work of the raw materials at the Krakow Metallurgical Plant, that is, the blast furnace and the steel plant. As the then president of the company Gert Verbeek said, the closure will take "at least several months."

The company expects the restart of the blast furnace and steel plant in Krakow to take place in mid-March, although the final date will depend on the time required for preparation.
As the CEO of ArcelorMittal Poland explained in the announcement, the decision to restart the plant is driven by the need to supply slabs (semi-finished products) to the ArcelorMittal smelter in Ghent, Belgium, where blast furnace repairs will begin, as well as the need to make up for production losses at the factories. ArcelorMittal Europe.

The company expects the restart of the blast furnace and steel plant in Krakow to take place in mid-March, although the final date will depend on the time required for preparation.

The possibility of restarting the raw material part at the Krakow Metallurgical Plant was indicated during a meeting initiated by President Jacek Maichrowski in January. The so-called round table on the state of the AMP plant in Krakow was attended by representatives of the government, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslav Govin and Minister of Development Jadwiga Emilevich, representatives of the city, province and board of ArcelorMittal, as well as representatives of trade unions and companies cooperating with combine.

AMP board spokesman Czeslaw Sikorski said at the time that if the observed signs of an improvement in the situation on the steel market are confirmed in the second quarter of this year, then “we will be able to discuss the restart of the raw materials part”.