It is reported that NLMK, the Russian steelmaker announced that starting 30th May, it is idling its blast furnace No. 3. The furnace which is situated at a site in Lipetsk has an annual capacity of 1.3 million tons of production. The blast furnace is scheduled to have maintenance and repairs work done on it in an effort by NLMK to increase efficiency of production and resources used. According to NLMK, there will be some reduction in the sales of commercial pig iron due to its temporary idling of blast furnace No.3. It does not however, impact the overall crude steel and rolled product output planned for the second half 2013. The demand for commercial pig iron has been falling which might have played a part in NLMK's decision to idle the blast furnace for maintenance. NLMK said that when market conditions improve, the decision to re-launch the furnace will then be made.
