Steel Market Production Cuts – ArcelorMittal Tubarao will stop operations at its 3.5 mtpy No.1 blast furnace for 100 days from next month to perform a planned relining, while resuming operations at its 1.2 mtpy No.2 furnace in order to compensate for the reduced pig iron output.

Steel Market Production Increases – Hebei province-based Chinese steelmaker Xinxing Ductile Iron Pipes officially commissioned its Hejing special steel project – which has a designed annual production capacity of 3 mt of special steel.

Steel Market Production Increases – Moldavian Metallurgical Works (MMZ) restarted crude steel production on March 6th with plans to produce 40,000-42,000 mt of finished steel products in the current month of March.

Steel Market Production Increases – The state-owned, Venezuelan steel mill and iron ore producer Sidor restarted operations earlier this week following a two-week break caused by unspecified operations issues.

Sources: Steel Business Briefing, Steel Orbis and Metal Bulletin