The epidemic situation of novel coronavirus pneumonia is becoming increasingly serious in the world. Affected by the epidemic situation, the global steel production reduction has been upgraded. Some foreign steel enterprises have taken measures to stop production and reduce production.

Brazilian steel companies shut down blast furnaces one after another

Gerdau announced a production cut on April 3. It said it would close a blast furnace with an annual production capacity of 1.5 million tons and the remaining blast furnace with an annual production capacity of 3 million tons. Earlier, gaierdao suspended the operation of the charqueadas furnace plant for 15 days.

Steel producer usiminas (usinas siderurgicasde Minas Gerais) said it would shut down two more blast furnaces, keeping only one blast furnace in operation, and shut down four blast furnaces in total. At present, the annual production capacity of usiminas steel is about 2.35 million tons.

Arcelor Mittal will shut down its No. 3 blast furnace at the tubar ã o steel plant in San Espirito, Brazil. It is reported that the annual capacity of crude steel of blast furnace 3 is 2.8 million tons. The company said it was not sure how long the blast furnace would be shut down at present and would make adjustment decisions based on market conditions.

ThyssenKrupp to cut steel production

Beijing novel coronavirus, Thyssen Krupp's largest steel producer, was said to have been affected by the outbreak of the new coronavirus in April 2nd, according to foreign media reports. The company is cutting steel output. Thyssenkrupp

"Given the current economic impact of covid-19, we are adjusting our production lines," a spokesman for ThyssenKrupp eurosteel said in an email. This includes blast furnace operation and steel processing. "

The company also said it was likely to cut production further, but did not disclose specific figures. The working hours of production and management personnel will be reduced and the process is expected to start in mid April and continue into early May.

Japan shut down 8.1 million tons of iron production capacity

Japanese steelmakers said on Tuesday they would leave two blast furnaces idle in the eastern and western half of the country to cope with the decline in demand for steel in cars and buildings during the coronavirus pandemic.

Japan's No. 1 blast furnace at the Kashima plant in Ibaraki county will be shut down in mid April, while the No. 1 blast furnace at the Wakayama plant in Wakayama county will be shut down in late April, according to the company. The total capacity of the two blast furnaces is 15% of the company's total capacity (54 million tons of crude steel), totaling 8.1 million tons.

The company also said that from this month, its employees will work in the headquarters and domestic steel plants and other places, with a total of about 30000 employees, and will take another two days off each month.

Earlier, Japan's steelworks and some blast furnaces in Wushi, Hiroshima Prefecture, western Japan, had been shut down in February.

Europe's viohalco suspended its steel business

According to foreign media reports, on March 30, viohalco SA announced that several subsidiaries of its steel business in Greece, sidenor SA, sovel SA, erlikon SA, praksys SA and etil SA, would temporarily suspend operations for a month from April 2 to May 3, while its executives would work flexibly. During the above period, the business activities and raw material delivery of these subsidiaries will not be affected.

Novel coronavirus pneumonia caused the company's condition to deteriorate rapidly due to the continued weakness in the international steel market and the company's decision.

Viohalco SA (vio), a Belgian holding company, is one of the leading metalworking companies in Europe. Its subsidiaries are located in many countries in Europe, with a total revenue of 4.19 billion euros (US $4.6 billion) in 2019.

Sail India will suspend operation of its Bhilai steel plant

According to foreign media reports, Bhilai steel plant of sail was temporarily shut down on March 28 due to concerns about the outbreak of covid-19. For this reason, the production of rail steel has come to a standstill.

Anirban Das Gupta, chief executive officer of Bhilai steel plant, said that the management has decided to retain some personnel to maintain the operation of important departments of the company and encourage other personnel to work at home at present. At the same time, he said, blast furnaces 1 and 8, general railway rolling mill, SMS-2, sms-3 and most coking equipment will continue to operate.

Rinl shut down a blast furnace in Visakhapatnam, India

According to foreign media reports, affected by the outbreak, rinl, the state-owned Indian steelmaker, closed a blast furnace at its Visakhapatnam steel plant on March 29.

The annual production capacity of rinl is more than 7.5 million tons, and the daily average iron production of three blast furnaces is about 180000 tons. After one blast furnace is closed, the daily average production will be reduced to 120000 tons.

It is reported that at present, the raw materials available to the steel plant can only maintain the operation of two blast furnaces. If the epidemic continues, normal operation will not be maintained. In addition, 50% of the company's employees are working at home, and the operation of the steel plant is also limited.

No.4 blast furnace of Gary steel plant will be idle indefinitely by American Steel Company

U.S. steel, which had planned to idle the No. 4 blast furnace of Gary works for 48 days in April, has decided to idle it immediately and indefinitely in response to the global epidemic.

The company has also idle the No.A blast furnace of Granite City works and the steel-making equipment of Great Lakes works for an indefinite period.

The company also decided to idle its lone star tubular operations in Texas and Lorain tubular operations in Ohio at the end of May, and cut 850 jobs in both locations.

U.S. steel company plans to cut its capital expenditure by 125 million dollars in 2020, with a reduced capital expenditure of 750 million dollars, and delay the equipment construction of monvalley steel plant and suspend the upgrading of flat steel hot strip line of Gary steel plant.