Final Thoughts

US Steel Košice Idles Second Blast Furnace

Written by Laura Miller

December 6, 2022

US Steel has idled a second blast furnace at its Košice steelworks in Slovakia.

US Steel

The No. 1 BF at Košice has been temporarily idled as of Dec. 2 “as a result of very high energy prices, low market demand and surging imports,” a US Steel spokeswoman confirmed to SMU in an email Tuesday, Dec. 6.

In September, the company pulled forward a 60-day planned outage on the No. 2 Košice BF. That furnace has remained down, awaiting an improvement in customer activity.

“We expect to resume two BF operations at the beginning of 2023,” the spokeswoman added.

A third BF at the carbon flat-rolled, electrical steel, and spiral-weld pipe mill remains in operation.

In its third quarter earnings conference call in late October, executives of the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker commented on the challenging environment it has been facing in Europe. President and CEO David Burritt said on the call the company would continue to adjust to manage the headwinds of high raw material and energy costs, buyer destocking, and the continuing war in neighboring Ukraine.

By Laura Miller, Laura@SteelMarketUpdate.com

Laura Miller

Laura Miller is a reporter and editor for Steel Market Update. She has held a variety of positions within the steel industry since 2007, including reporting and editing for Steel Business Briefing/Platts, the Association for Iron and Steel Technology, and Kallanish Commodities, as well as marketing for what was then known as ThyssenKrupp Steel USA (now AM/NS Calvert). After a five-year hiatus working across other industries, she returned to steel in 2021 and has covered the flat rolled, tubular, and trade areas of the industry. She is a member of the Association of Women in the Metal Industries and a past-president of the AWMI Pittsburgh Chapter. She holds a BA in Latin American Studies from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She can be reached at laura@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7869.

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