Steel producer ArcelorMittal South Africa on Friday said “good progress” had been made to replace some lost production following a fire at its Vanderbijlpark works on February 9.
The company expected a portion of the steelmaking operations to resume in March, with a full return to production expected by the end of April.
Various ArcelorMittal Group plants had been contacted to supply semifinished products, with several orders having been confirmed and steel dispatches from these plants to start shortly and expected to arrive in some six weeks.
The steel producer said it was also diverting about 40 000 t/m of steel from its Saldanha works to its domestic customers and was exploring the possibility of increasing production at this facility.
“While force majeure remains in effect, customers are still placing orders for March and April, and we are confident that we will be in a position to fulfil most of these requirements following the mitigation actions taken,” the company said in a statement.
Assessment of the root causes of the fire and the recovery process were ongoing, with the potential financial impact to be available at the end of February.