Serbia-based steel producer HBIS Group Serbia Iron & Steel, a part of leading Chinese steelmaking company Hebei Iron & Steel Group, plans to resume its blast furnace No. 1 at its Smederevo plant by the end of this week.
The blast furnace No. 1 was temporarily shut down at the end of July last year due to weak steel demand, lower prices and high costs. The shutdown decision was made in order to further optimize the process and improve work efficiency.
The blast furnace No. 1 has an annual capacity of 900,000 mt.
Meanwhile, last year most European steel producers shut down their blast furnaces and were concurrently reducing their production due to higher energy costs and lower demand. However, this year producers such as ArcelorMittal, US Steel Kosice and SSAB have begun to restart their idled blast furnaces.