ArcelorMittal planned to carry out a 70-day shutdown of one of the blast furnaces at the Tubarao steelworks in Brazil in September this year.

Tubarao is an integrated steel mill with a production capacity of approximately 7 million tons of crude steel in 2018. Steel mills mainly produce slab and hot-rolled steel.

The No. 2 blast furnace under overhaul had been in operation for 21 years. ArcelorMittal planned to replace the refractory material of the blast furnace, improve the cooling system, and repair the power supply system of the equipment. This maintenance project was expected to provide 1,100 jobs.

In addition, the maintenance of Gerdau in Brazil would start in early June, while the overhaul of another Brazilian steel mill, Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) was tentatively scheduled in July this year. Both blast furnace maintenance programs would boost the demand for local flat steel in Brazil.