“As the situation on the steel market continues to deteriorate and the outlook remains gloomy, we regrettably have no choice but to temporarily idle the blast furnace in Kraków,” ArcelorMittal Poland CEO Geert Verbeeck said in a statement released by the company on Tuesday.
The company added: “According to EUROFER, apparent steel demand in Europe is expected to fall by 3.1% in 2019 whilst earlier forecasts only pointed to a drop of 0.4%.”
EUROFER is the trade association of the European iron and steel industry.
“This results from uncertainty, trade tensions and geopolitical issues weighing on investment and trade,” the statement added.
ArcelorMittal Poland said it intended to restart the furnace in Kraków as soon as “market conditions improve adequately to justify a restart leading to economically viable operations.”
The company, which employs more than 10,000 people in Poland, added that a “great majority of our employees will be offered other positions both at our other plants in Kraków as well as in Dąbrowa Górnicza,” southern Poland.
(jh/pk)
Source: PAP/poland.arcelormittal.com