Steel Mills
AHMSA Restarts Furnace Following Major Upgrades
Written by David Schollaert
April 5, 2022
Mexican flat-rolled steelmaker Altos Hornos de México (AHMSA) has restarted its No. 5 blast furnace following a planned two-week upgrade outage, a company spokesman said.
The 130 million pesos ($6.5 million) investment included upgrades to its continuous caster, coking plant ovens, service areas, and loading systems.
Maintenance to AHMSA’S No. 5 blast furnace – its largest – was aimed at increasing slab capabilities to meet strong domestic and international demand, the company said.
Despite an electrical fire last week that damaged to No. 5’s air blower, the project was not derailed, and the upgrade was completed on time.
AHMSA said the latest improvements didn’t include the company’s No. 6 furnace that’s been idled since 2020 because market conditions, according to SMU’s blast furnace status table.
The No. 5 furnace has capacity of 1.91 million tons per year and the No. 6 furnace annual capacity of 1.27 million tons, according to the Association for Iron and Steel Technology’s 2021 Directory of Iron and Steel Plants.
AHMSA makes hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil, plate, tinplate and structural shapes, per its website.
By David Schollaert, David@SteelMarketUpdate.com
David Schollaert
Read more from David SchollaertLatest in Steel Mills
CMC Q4 profits rise on improved market conditions
CMC reported higher net earnings in its fiscal fourth quarter on "better market conditions" across its segments.
AISI: Raw steel production drops to multi-month low
After being historically strong for more than four months, US raw steel production fell for a second week.
U.S. Steel sues Algoma over iron pellet shipments
U.S. Steel is suing Algoma over the Canadian flat-rolled producer's rejection of iron pellet shipments, arguing it has breached its contract.
August US mill shipments slip but still higher than last year
The American Iron and Steel Institute reported a decline in the monthly shipments of US mills from July to August.
TransPod, Algoma, Supreme Steel linkup anchors Canadian steel in high-speed transit build
The three Canadian companies have announced a strategic partnership to support the development of an ultra-high-speed transit line from Edmonton to Calgary.