Brazilian steel slab producer Companhia Siderurgica do Pecem halted operations Sunday after a fire hit a cable tray, the company said Wednesday.
The plant faced a "power outage and stoppage of some equipment" as consequence of the incident, CSP said in a statement.
"The maintenance and operation teams are jointly working to make due corrections and resume operations in the following days," it said.
CSP said no one was injured in the fire and the cause is being investigated.
A source familiar with the matter said that given the proportions of the fire, "the company was forced to throw away all the liquid pig iron contained in the ladle furnaces."
Market talk that CSP could resume operations in 4-5 days seems to be short, the source said.
"I think CSP will have to reconstruct its entire cable system," the source said.
The plant has installed capacity of 250,000 mt/month, or 3 million mt/year. It plans to produce 2.7 million mt of carbon steel slabs and export 2.9 million mt in 2017.
CSP is a joint venture of Brazilian mining group Vale (50%) and South Korean steel producers Dongkuk (30%) and Posco (20%). Built in the northeastern state of Ceara, it started production in June 2016.
