Japanese steelmaker Kobe Steel has announced its plans to reline blast furnace No. 3 at its Kakogawa works in western Japan. The company will shut down the blast furnace from the end of September 2016 for a 90-day period to undertake the work. Kobe Steel will then restart the blast furnace at the end of December of the same year. The renovation will cost approximately JPY 20 billion ($196.3 million).

According to Kobe Steel, operating costs will be reduced by further increasing the use of low-cost raw materials with Kobe Steel's production technology, which incorporates a high ratio of pulverized coal in blast furnace operations.

As previously announced, Kobe Steel plans to shut down the blast furnace and other upstream operations at its Kobe works and transfer those operations to the Kakogawa works in the financial year 2016-17. The relining of the blast furnace No. 3 is timed in anticipation of this transfer.