South Korean steelmaker POSCO started maintenance of blast furnace No. 4 in Pohang in late April and plans to resume production at this unit at the end of June this year, Kallanish reports.
Investments in the modernization of BF No. 4 will amount to KRW 530 billion ($385 million). The overhaul is aimed at restoring productivity and establishing stable production by modernizing old equipment, improving safety by increasing durability, and using big data and artificial intelligence to create an intelligent blast furnace melting system.
The capacity of blast furnace No. 4 at the Pohang steel plant is 5.3 million tons per year. In addition, the plant will carry out a six-month maintenance of the 3.5 million tons per annum hot strip mill No. 1.
Despite the fact that the company reduced steel production in the first quarter due to the reconstruction of the South Korean BF, the use of semi-finished product stocks helped maintain production and sales at the level of the previous quarter, the company noted. The company’s steel production and sales in January-March amounted to 8.66 million tons and 8.22 million tons, respectively.
