Slovakia-based US Steel Kosice (USSK), a subsidiary of US Steel, has shut down another one of its blast furnaces until early 2023, according to local media. The company had idled its blast furnace No. 2 on September 4, originally planning 60-day maintenance works, but the furnace is still idled. The company is operating only one of its three blast furnaces at the moment.
According to company spokesman Ján Bača, the latest shutdown is a result of high energy prices, low demand and the sharp increase in steel imports. The company expects to resume operation of the two blast furnaces at the beginning of 2023, SteelOrbis understands. “The costs of raw materials and especially of energy have increased extremely, and, on the contrary, the prices of steel products have fallen substantially. We are therefore saving in every possible place and project in order to overcome this difficult period,” the spokesman said. In mid-November, the company already reduced working hours until the end of the current year.
USSK has an annual raw steel production capacity of 4.5 million mt and produces high-value-added products for automotive, packaging, electrotechnical, consumer goods and building industries.
