Steel Market Production Increases – Chinese steelmaker Bagang plans to acquire Baosteel’s 3 mtpy Nanjiang integrated longs facility, bringing the company’s total capacity to 11 mtpy. The Nanjiang project has been under construction since 2010 and Bagang announced that trials will begin in 2Q13. Once completed, the facility will operate two 850,000 tpy bar mills and a 600,000 tpy wire rod mill.

Steel Market Production Increases – Chinese steelmaker Hebei Xinjin Iron & Steel has commissioned a 600,000 tpy wire rod mill – the company’s second – lifting wire rod capacity to 1.1 mtpy.

Steel Market Production Increases – Chinese steelmaker Baotou Iron & Steel plans to begin production at a new 400,000 tpy heat-treated rail line in about a year.

Steel Market Production Cuts – Russian steelmaker Severstal North America was forced to halt crude production at the Dearborn, MI facility due to an explosion in a cold air pipe; the outage could potentially  last as long as five weeks.

Steel Market Production Cuts – ArcelorMittal announced that it is reducing operations at the 750,000 tpy Georgetown, South Carolina wire rod mill by cutting down from three crews to two. The reduction is due to bad market conditions caused by imports and will be returned to normal once conditions improve.

Steel Market Production Increases – Swedish steelmaker SSAB has completed a 200,000 tpy expansion of the quench and tempering line at the Mobile, Al plant that produces high-strength plate for mining and construction; some of the plate will be shipped to China.

Steel Market Production Increases – French steelmaker Vallourec has commissioned a new 350,000 tpy seamless pipe mill (initial capacity) for OCTG in Youngstown, Ohio and plans to begin sales in “early 2013.”

Steel Market Production Increases – Brazilian steel producer Gerdau plans to commission a new 800,000 tpy HRC line at the company’s Acominas facility by year-end 2012, with commercial production beginning by the end of 1Q13. The company estimates that 2013 shipments could reach approximately 300,000 – 400,000 metric tons.

Steel Market Production Increases – Korean autosheet producer Hyundai-Hysco is building a new 1.5 mtpy pickling and cold-rolled mill scheduled to come on-line in May 2013.

Steel Market Production Increases – Ural Steel, a subsidiary of Russian steel producer Metalloinvest, has begun operating a 1.2 mtpy vacuum degasser at its EAF melt-shop.

Steel Market Production Increases – Indian steelmaker SAIL is planning to increase steelmaking capacity at the Bhilai facility from 3 mtpy to about 7 mtpy and will potentially supply the plant with iron ore from the new Eklama mine (license pending).

Steel Market Production Cuts – Chilean steelmaker CAP is reducing HRC output by operating the Talcahuano plant for only 15 days out of the month. The decrease is due to falling prices and low demand caused by cheap Chinese imports.

Steel Market Production Cuts – Indian steelmaker JSW is planning an outage of at least one month at the hot-dipped galvanizing line at the Vasind facility starting in the third week of November. The outage will reduce production by about 20,000 – 25,000 metric tons.

Sources: Steel Business Briefing, American Metal Market, SteelOrbis