Austrian steelmaker Voestalpine re-started operations at its second blast furnace (BF) at the Donawitz plant which was shut since last summer for maintenance, in order to meet growing steel demand.
The BF has an annual capacity of close to 750,000 mt of pig iron. The Donawitz plant now has its 1.5mn mt per year pig iron production operational. Including the Linz plant, the company has an annual pig iron capacity of 5mn mt.
The company’s Railway Systems business has been stable despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Demand for steel wire and seamless tubes from the automobile and oil and gas sector has also improved, the firm noted. The company’s pig iron output feeds steel production in these sectors.