After many steelmakers across Germany declaring force majeure amid severe floods, Belgian mill NLMK La Louviere has followed suit on July 21. The decision, however, has been taken in the wake of a fire at its re-rolling mill on July 17, suggest media reports. The mill expects to be back in operation after a week-long break for repairs.
The company states there were no casualties in the fire that occurred near the quarto equipment. Preliminary estimates suggest the loss of production could be to the tune of 50,000mt. The mill has an HRC pickling line with an annual capacity of 1.5mn mt and a 600,000mt cold rolling mill. The steelmaker recently upgraded its mill which will enable it to increase output to 2.2mn mt by 2022 from the present 1.7mn mt. It produces hot and cold-rolled coils for the auto, engineering, and construction sectors.