Liberty Steel is idling the only operational blast furnace at its Ostrava works in Czechia because of weak demand.
Blast furnace No 3 will go off line for maintenance and repairs initially scheduled for two weeks, sources said.
The company recently took its only operational furnace at Galati off line, citing problems with raw material deliveries amid bad weather in the Black Sea. That unit is planned to restart on 24 October, sources close to the company said.
Liberty has been struggling with the weak market conditions in recent months, which have strained working capital. It has been importing Russian and Indonesian material to feed its European rolling lines.
The only operational blast furnace at Hungary's Dunaferr, which Liberty is in the process of acquiring, was idled in August this year. The company has been feeding Dunaferr with slab from Galati intermittently, on what it calls a "campaign by campaign" basis. Everything at Dunaferr, except the coking ovens, is currently idled, with no slab incoming.
The largest coke oven at Ostrava was also idled recently, as it was deemed uncompetitive.
Liberty recently sold some emissions allowances under the EU emissions trading system, according to brokers in the carbon market. The company refused to comment. With production at such low levels, it is likely to have surplus allowances.