Low capacity not an option

However, in a telephone interview yesterday, Nu-Iron’s general manager, Lester Hart, described the global economic picture as “unclear” and declined to predict whether the commodities market, including iron and steel products, would strengthen or continue on a downward trend.

Nu-Iron, which is a subsidiary of US-based Nucor Corporation, produces two million tonnes of direct-reduced iron, (DRI) annually, for Nucor’s steel mills and was relocated from the US state of Louisiana to the Point Lisas Industrial Estate in 2005. Hart said the decision to restart the facility was taken on Thursday, following the plant’s shutdown on November 4, 2008.

He said while the majority of the facility’s products were exported to Nucor’s steel mills, the downturn had reduced demand by the company’s clients and which, in turn, caused the shutdown of the Point Lisas plant. Hart noted that the plant could operate at an 80 percent capacity, saying this was not feasible due to the decreased demand by the steel mills.