MWI Bureau

Crude steel production for Japan remained low in the month of March as compared to February due to the impact of COVID-19 which reduced then steel demand from the manufacturing sector. 


Covid 19 did not have any impact on the start up of the new Q-REG® (Electrodes Regulation System) which was to be installed for the ladle furnace at Gerdau, in Divinopolis plant at MG, Brazil.

An accident took place on Thursday at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, the corporate entity of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, after molten metal spilled on the ground at the plant's Steel Melting Shop- 2 near the RH degasser area.

S&P Global Platts reported the Italian steel producers which had lost 1 million to 1.3 million mt of output during the stringent four weeks of coronavirus-prompted lockdowns, have resumed production, working at around 40-50% of their capacity with most of them executing COVID-19 precautions.

China’s top listed steelmaker, Baosteel Iron and Steel Co Ltd reported a 43.6 percent drop in net profit for the first quarter. The net income for Baosteel for January-March feel to 1.54 bln yuan from 2.73 billion a year before

Refractory damage mostly takes place due to thermo-mechanical problems such as due to deformation of the inside steel can, fractures of castables, inside brick slip-down, breakouts from inside or outside. This happens mostly due to overheating of snorkels(long heat series, short inter-treatments, especially at start of campaigns) The countermeasures being the cooling of snorkels(cooling system, longer inter-treatments ), stronger snorkels(thicker can, thicker bricks).

The Coal Ministry of India has directed the state-owned miner Coal India Limited(CIL) to keep the production and offtake target at 710 million tonnes keeping in mind its target to achieve fuel production of 1 billion tonnes by FY24 as the government expects coal demand to pick up after the lockdown gets lifted.

ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India attained record production in the financial year 2020 ending March 31. The crude steel production increased by 5 percent in 2019-20 at 7.23 million tonnes as compared to 6.92 million tonnes in FY 2018-19.

POSCO, South Korean largest steelmaker first-quarter net profit plunged as a result of weak steel demand due to the COVID-19 outbreak across the globe.

The mould determines the strand crosssection. The liquid steel begins to solidify once it enters the mould to produce the strand shell, the thickness of which after it leaves the mould generally ranges between 10 and 30mm depending on the casting speed.