According to a person in charge of the Christian trade union CSC Metal, Jordan Atanasov, the direction of ArcelorMittal Belgium explained at a meeting Thursday evening why “blast furnace 6” of Seraing, in area inhabitant of Li2ege, started again in March, would be again shut down “in 15 days” and at least until the mid-February.
According to the Belgian trade unions, the direction of the group announced at this meeting temporary closing several other blast furnaces in France (Dunkirk) and Germany (Bremen, Eko Stahl).
The few 120 people who work with the blast furnace of Seraing will be placed economic unemployed or will take their compensatory days off, according to the trade unions, which fear that other tools of the basin inhabitant of Li2ege, like the coking plant, are also temporarily shut down. ( Finance Information City )
Monday, the direction of the group had announced the economic unemployed setting, one to two days per week, from approximately 1.850 paid of its site of Ghent, specialized in the production of sheets for auto industry, in order to adjust the production with the decrease in the international demand.
Announced the past week, the reduction of the production of the Dunkirk factory of Arcelor is from now on effective. Blast furnace 2 (HF2) is with the complete stop, tandis the HF3 and HF4 are in minimal pace and stop 24 hours in alternation each week. According to CGT, this slowed down production would not affect - for the moment - not the volume of hours worked.
The iron and steel site Arcelor-Mittal de Fos-sur-Mer (Rhone delta) should lower as for him its production at the end of the year, according to advertisement made by the direction announced it at the time of a Central committee of company (the CEC) Wednesday. “The direction announces a deceleration of production and the obligation to take paid vacations and RTT. These measurements are due to the financial crisis and economic in the country with for consequences of the impacts on the production, the investments and employment in the factory”, declared Alain Nougué, delegated CGT of the site.
The direction also informed of “the suspension of the recruitings, of the suspension of the recourse to the interim and the temporary reassignments of the personnel concerned with the deceleration of the activities”. The various services of the factory are concerned with the production decrease “due to the crisis of automobile industry” according to Mr. Nougué.
The economic crisis lets foresee a fold of the growth of the steel worldwide consumption. Of a rate of 5,2% in 2008, this one should slow down to 2,2% in 2009, according to analysts.
In September, Arcelor Mittal had indicated to count on a growth of the worldwide market of the steel “from 3 to 5% in the next years”, carried in particular by the emergent China and countries.
Thanks to this supported request, the price of steel should remain “above 1000 dollars the ton in the years to be come”, it had underlined, at the time of the advertisement of a plan of economies of 2,8 billion euros (4 billion dollars), together with reductions of manpower.
Vis-a-vis the crisis and to maintain a level of price “acceptable”…. for them, the industrialists of steel started to reduce their production. At ArcelorMittal, the fall could reach up to 15%, according to the indications provided by the group.
Such a production reduction is indeed likely to support the courses of steel, whereas the request is slowed down by the world economic deceleration, automobile industry - broad steel consumer - being particularly impacted by the crisis.
0 comments:
Post a Comment