The world's largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal is to restart several blast furnaces in the US due to signs of improving demand.
Speaking Tuesday, June 23, at the World Steel Dynamics Steel Survival Strategies Conference, ArcelorMittal CEO Lakshmi Mittal said that ArcelorMittal was about to restart several blast furnaces in the US, including at its Indiana Harbor plant located on the southwest shore of Lake Michigan in East Chicago.
However, the ArcelorMittal CEO did not comment at what level the Indiana Harbor plant would operate or when the restart would take place.
According to Mr. Mittal, ArcelorMittal had not permanently shut down plants but rather had temporarily idled them with the intention of restarting production when demand picked up.
He reiterated that ArcelorMittal was currently operating at 50 percent of its full global production capacity and would adjust its production only due to a pickup in demand.
In his presentation, Mr. Mittal stated, "The recession may prevent strong levels of demand from returning until 2011 or 2012 and that has changed ArcelorMittal's acquisition strategy. We are more focused on acquiring companies that produce high value added products."