Leading Indian steel manufacturer JSW Steel is set to commission a state-of-the-art blast furnace at its Dolvi Works facility in Maharashtra by the end of March 2026. Partnering with SMS group and Paul Wurth, the new furnace is designed to produce 4.5 million tonnes of hot metal per year and incorporates advanced technologies for carbon footprint reduction, including hot syngas and coke oven gas injection. This expansion is part of JSW's strategic roadmap to increase its total domestic steel production capacity from 34.2 MTPA toward a goal of 50 MTPA by 2030.

The European Union has officially approved a €390 million bridge loan to support the operational turnaround and environmental compliance of Italy's Acciaierie d'Italia (ADI), formerly known as Ilva. The massive Taranto steelworks is currently running at a critically low annual production capacity of 1.5 to 1.8 million metric tons, relying solely on Blast Furnace No. 4 while Blast Furnaces No. 1 and No. 2 remain idled for extraordinary maintenance. The newly secured state-backed funding is aimed at restarting these idled furnaces, restoring essential coke oven gas treatments, and stabilizing the employment of thousands of workers currently under an extended extraordinary layoff scheme

Brazilian steel and iron ore giant Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) has successfully secured a $1.2 billion syndicated bridge loan from international lenders to reinforce its liquidity and support ongoing production operations. This financial maneuver provides crucial breathing room as the company manages heavy capital expenditures, including the ongoing $260 million modernization of Blast Furnace No. 2 at the Volta Redonda plant. The fresh capital injection will ensure seamless raw material procurement, stable continuous casting, and uninterrupted rolling mill operations during the transitional maintenance phases

India is projected to increase its iron ore imports to a seven-year high of 14 million tonnes in the 2025/2026 financial year to support its rapidly expanding steel production capacity. This trend reflects a strategic shift by Indian steelmakers toward sourcing high-grade international ores to optimize blast furnace efficiency as domestic crude steel production targets continue to rise. Despite being a major producer and exporter of iron ore, India's growing appetite for premium-grade feedstock is expected to make it a more prominent player in the global seaborne iron ore trade.

ArcelorMittal Poland has invested approximately PLN 60 million ($16.08 million) to modernize Blast Furnace No. 3 at its Dąbrowa Górnicza plant, preparing it for a potential restart as early as spring 2026. The furnace has been idle since September 2025 due to weak demand, and the current refurbishment focuses on rebuilding the hearth with new ceramic materials to extend its operational life by four years. This move signals the company's readiness to react to potential recovery in European steel demand despite ongoing regional economic headwinds.

JSW Steel reported a 2% year-on-year decline in consolidated crude steel production for February 2026, totaling 2.366 million tonnes. The decrease is primarily attributed to the ongoing temporary shutdown of Blast Furnace 3 at its Vijayanagar facility, which has been offline for capacity modernization since late 2025. Despite the impact of the maintenance work, the company's Indian operations achieved a high capacity utilization rate of 97% when excluding the affected furnace, demonstrating strong underlying operational performance.

Dalian iron ore futures rose in early trading and pulled back in the afternoon. The most-traded contract, I2605, finally closed at 824 yuan/mt, up 0.55% from the previous trading session. Spot prices rose by about 2-5 yuan from the previous trading day. Traders were relatively active in offering quotes, while steel mills made fewer inquiries and purchased cautiously, with overall transactions in the spot market remaining average. In terms of fundamental data, blast furnace maintenance intensity continued to pull back this week, with maintenance affecting hot metal production by 1.65 million mt, down 206,500 mt WoW. It was expected to decrease by a further 180,000 mt next week to 1.4684 million mt, indicating a gradual improvement on the demand side. In terms of supply, tight supply still persisted in the market, and there was no news of any significant adjustment, which remained supportive for iron ore in the short term. However, some funds, out of concern over downstream risks, tended to stay on the sidelines, and overall wait-and-see sentiment was strong. In summary, iron ore prices were expected to hover at highs in the short term.

Dalian iron ore fluctuated upward today. The most-traded contract, I2605, finally closed at 819 yuan/mt, up 0.92% from the previous trading session. Spot prices rose by about 1-2 yuan from the previous trading day. Traders were moderately active in offering quotations, while steel mills purchased cautiously. At present, transactions in the spot market remained sluggish. In terms of fundamental data, the SMM survey showed that global iron ore shipments reached 33.63 million mt last week, up 5.2% WoW; meanwhile, total iron ore arrivals at Chinese ports were 27.14 million mt, down 3.5% WoW. Combined with the narrower inventory buildup in port inventory in the previous period and the increase in port pick-up volume, the oversupplied situation on the iron ore supply side improved in the short term. At the same time, demand gradually rebounded as blast furnaces resumed production one after another, and iron ore fundamentals gradually turned bullish. On the news front, as long-term contract negotiations remained deadlocked, the unilateral trend in iron ore had yet to become clear, so most funds chose to stay on the sidelines, though overall bullish sentiment remained relatively strong. Therefore, overall, iron ore prices were expected to fluctuate at highs this week.

【Indonesia PMMI Blast Furnace to Ignite End-March; May Slab Trial Orders Open】 SMM March 20th: Permai (PMMI), a joint venture restructured by Indonesia Tsingshan Iron & Steel and Guangxi Guixin Iron & Steel Group, will launch its new blast furnace at the end of March. Based in Tsingshan Industrial Park, Morowali, Central Sulawesi, the project upgrades the original 580m³ NPI blast furnace to a 1216m³ carbon steel blast furnace with LF refining, boasting an annual capacity of 1.8 million tonnes. It focuses on high-grade special steel smelting and production of continuous cast slab and billet. Product Specifications & Order Info Thickness: 210/230mm Width: 1000-1650mm Length: 6000-11700mm Loading Port: Bahodopi, Morowali Trial orders for May shipment slab are accepted.

According to the SMM survey, as of March 18, the blast furnace operating rate at the 242 steel mills tracked by SMM was 87.16%, up 1.17 percentage points WoW.