Steel Market Production Cuts – The details of yesterday’s directive received by Italian steelmaker Ilva – from the court of Taranto – were made public today. Ilva will have to decommission two blast furnaces (No. 1 and No. 5) and its No. 1 BOF will be closed. The No. 2 BOF will be upgraded along with a reorganization of their scrap yard; costs from the maintenance plan are estimated to be €400 – €500 million.

Steel Market Production Cuts – Keystone Steel & Wire Co. is expected to take a two-week maintenance outage from Oct. 20 to Nov. 3 at its melt shop and rod mill in Peoria, IL.

Steel Market Production Increases – Brazilian-based Tuper finished construction on its 180,000 tpy OCTG plant in São Bento do Sul and announced a plan for a possible subsidiary in Houston, TX as the company’s primary goal is to meet U.S. demand.

Steel Market Production Increases – ArcelorMittal announced a €58 million, four-part investment plan for its operations in Poland. The plan includes upgrades for its No. 2 BOF and its hot-dip galvanizing line, a new service center for sheet (85,000 tpy capacity), and a high speed rail mill. The projects are expected to be completed by the end of next year.

Steel Market Production Increases – Gerdau announced plans to restart their Colombian longs operations that have been idled since late 2010. Muña (135,000 tpy) will be restarted in 2012 and Tocancipá (200,000 tpy) will be restarted in 2013.

Steel Market Production Increases – Brazilian steelmaker Arvedi Metalfer has ordered a new 150,000 tpy high frequency welded tube plant that is scheduled to become operational in May, 2013.

Sources: Steel Business Briefing, SteelOrbis, American Metal Market