Global steel giant ArcelorMittal said Friday it would shut two assets at German steelworks to offset soaring energy prices, weak market demand and a negative economic outlook
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd September, 2022) Global steel giant ArcelorMittal said Friday it would shut two assets at German steelworks to offset soaring energy prices, weak market demand and a negative economic outlook.
"ArcelorMittal is taking the consequences in Germany, as not all assets can be operated economically anymore," the Luxembourg-based steelmaker said in a statement.
The group said it would shut down one of the two blast furnaces at the Bremen flat steel site until further notice. A direct reduction plant at the Hamburg long steel site will be closed from the fourth quarter.
Employees at both plants have already been put on short-time working. Short-time work is also being applied at production sites in Duisburg and Eisenhuettenstadt.
ArcelorMittal said the energy crisis had a massive impact on its competitiveness.
"With a tenfold increase in gas and electricity prices, which we had to accept within a few months, we are no longer competitive in a market that is 25% supplied by imports," ArcelorMittal Germany CEO Reiner Blaschek said.
The German government's planned gas levy is expected to further burden the already struggling steel business, Blaschek said. He called for urgent political action to get energy prices under control.
