HBIS Group announced to suspend one of its two blast furnaces at its Serbian plant with an annual capacity of 2.2 million tons.

HBIS Group and other steel mills have planned to suspend some production lines in Europe due to sluggish demand from the home appliance and automotive industries recently.

These included ArcelorMittal's blast furnace No.1 in Dunkirk, France, the blast furnace owned by Acciaierie d'Italia, and Arvedi's Cremona plant. The market has also mentioned that Thyssenkrupp will cease some of its hot-dip galvanized lines. Tata Steel's IJmuiden Works chose not to produce coils, but to reserve slabs instead.

However, some European mills are optimistic that prices may bottom out and then rebound, and the replenishing demand of downstream industries was expected to recover from the end of July.