ANNABA (Algeria)- The blast furnace N2 of Sider El-Hadjar complex, in Annaba (600-km east of Algiers), returned to service Friday after a six-month shutdown due to the preventive measures against the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, the communication department of the public industrial group Imital said.
The start of the re-commissioning of blast furnace n ° 2 was given in application of directives from Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djarad and Minister of Industry, Ferhat Ait Ali Braham, during their last visit (September 13, ) to the Sider El Hadjar complex in order to revive economic activity in this mega industrial unit and revalue the steel industry in Algeria, specified Imital in a press release.
“The re-commissioning of blast furnace n ° 2 took place at the beginning of this afternoon, in the presence of the President and CEO of the Imital complex, Tarik Bouslama, managers of the Sider complex and representatives of the social partner of the same complex”, the same source detailed, noting that” the technical tests, preceding this return to service, were launched a few days ago were conclusive. ”
It should be recalled that the shutdown of blast furnace No. 2 was decided last March as part of the preventive measures imposed by the repercussions of the health crisis linked to the spread of the coronavirus.
During this same period, the production units using semi-finished products and those responsible for marketing the stock of productions from the Sider El Hadjar complex continued their activities.
The managers of the El-Hadjar steel complex expect production of 600,000 tonnes for the current year which should theoretically increase in 2021 to 700,000 tonnes, before reaching one (1) million tonnes at the horizon 2023 thanks to investments intended to increase the volume of the annual production of the complex and to meet the needs of the market with competitive industrial materials, the same source pointed out.
APS
