JFE Bars & Shapes to Resume Sendai Plant in July

JFE Bars & Shapes will resume production at steel bar plant of Sendai plant in mid-July after the stoppage since the major earthquake. The plant restarts the production at wire rod plant in early August and at steel making plant in mid-August. The plant expects the production level reaches normal level in October as before the quake.

The plant produced monthly 55,000 tonnes of steel bar and 25,000 tonnes of wire rod in February. The plant cannot ship the product when the inventory was damaged by Tsunami. The firm secures around 80% of the shipment from JFE Steel and other makers.

The plant will restart the rolling mill operation with 60,000 tonnes of stocked billet. The plant would restart ferrous scrap purchase depending on the operation of the steel making plant. The plant tries to resume normal operation as early as possible when the bar and wire rod supply could get tight in and after autumn due to normalizing automobile production.

The plant gets special support from other makers, machinery makers and plant makers to resume the operation. With the support, the plant can resume the operation earlier than expected while the production was expected not to resume for half year to one year.