SSAB Europe Declares 8-Weeks Downtime for Blast Furnace Repairs at Raahe, Finland Site

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Swedish steelmaker SSAB announced repairs and maintenance works at one of the two blast furnaces at its Raahe, Finland plant. The works will lead to stoppage of operations at blast furnace 2 for a period of eight weeks. The company estimates the cost of work at around SEK 200 million.

The operations at blast furnace 2 were disrupted following leakage of molten iron through the hearth wall of the furnace which took place on January 22^nd. SSAB had initially scheduled repair and maintenance works for summer 2020. However, the detailed study initiated by the company had suggested carrying out the repairs at the earliest so as to avoid further disruptions.

According to company press release, the production loss on account of the temporary shutdown of blast furnace 2 will be compensated by its other European operations. As a result, there will be limited impact on quarterly shipments during Q1 2019. Meanwhile, the production at blast furnace 1 remains unaffected, the company said.

SSAB had recently reported continued earnings improvement and strong cash flow in 2018. The European demand remained strong, although it witnessed slowdown towards the last quarter of the year. The Q4 ’18 shipments too had reported marginal decline when compared with the corresponding quarter a year before.

Despite uncertainties with respect to trade barriers and weaker global economic growth, the company expects to post strong Q1 2019 results, mainly on account of positive signals from a number of larger customer segments.