Brazilian flat and long steelmaker Companhia Sider??rgica Nacional (CSN) has been negotiating with slab producers to build up its inventories in advance of a stoppage at one of its own blast furnaces, market participants have told Fastmarkets.
Maintenance work on the blast furnace has been expected for a few years and is now planned for June 2019, a source close to CSN said. The stoppage has been delayed several times and was most recently scheduled for November this year, before it was postponed.CSN's third blast furnace will be stopped for at least one month. In...