Dniprovsky Integrated Iron and Steel Works (DMK) restarted its blast furnace (BF) No. 12 on December 27, 2019 and is now operating all three blast furnaces, the Ukrainian square billet producer and exporter announced in a statement. BF No. 12 was commissioned in 1956, and was fully repaired in July 2019.
DMK reduced output amid unfavourable steel product market conditions in H2 2019, and was operating only one furnace–BF No. 1 since September 2019. BF No. 9 restarted operations on November 18, before it began working on restarting BF No. 12.
The company started idling its blast furnaces amid a sharp drop in demand for steel products, Davis Index learned. During the downtime, DMK conducted regular maintenance work of these furnaces. According to market sources, between January to November 2019, DMK decreased crude steel and pig iron production by 6.4pc and 17.4pc to 2.05mn mt and to 1.85mn mt respectively as compared to the prior year.