JFE to slash production due to maintenance issues
Japan’s JFE which is operating around eight blast furnaces across Japan, three of them are facing issues. This would result in a lost of 1.4 million tonnes of crude steel in total.
Blast furnace No. 2 at the Kurashiki area, West Japan Works, is set for going back to a pre-banking level in early February since banked from 23rd October 2018.
Its No. 6 blast furnace, at the Chiba area, East Japan Works was temporarily banked on 13th December 2018 and was returned to the pre-banking level by mid-January.
The No. 4 blast furnace at the Fukuyama area, West Japan Works was banked on 5th January 2019 which is expected to turn to pre-banking level by end-February.
JFE also hints to install an artificial intelligence (AI) technology to prevent such issues in the future.