Liberty Steel idles Galati blast furnace in Romania

Liberty Steel has idled its only operational blast furnace in Europe in the past few days.

The furnace, at the company's Galati site in Romania, was idled because of the difficult market environment.

"To ensure a profitable and sustainable production at Galati, we have decided to enter a temporary hot idle period and continue operating our downstream mills from slab stocks," a Liberty spokesperson told Argus.

"During this period, we will focus on conducting maintenance and repairs to improve the performance and reliability of the blast furnace, and we will focus on consolidating the order book for customers in the profitable market segments."

Liberty had been using financing from Exim Banca Romaneasca to procure raw materials for the furnace, according to market sources.

The company is not producing any hot metal at its Ostrava site, in the Czech Republic, where it is looking to restructure. The company has requested a 25pc reduction in wages for workers at the site, which has been rolling some imported semi-finished steel.

Nothing is being produced at Liberty Dunaujvaros, the former Dunaferr, in Hungary either, although the coke ovens are still running, according to workers at the site. The site was meant be supplied with slab from Galati.

The tough market is compounding issues for Liberty, which recently said it wanted to sell or recapitalise its EU rolling lines.

It also recently announced the mothballing of Liberty Merchant Bar, in Scunthorpe, UK, which in reality has not produced for many years.

By Colin Richardson