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Business Report writes that ArcelorMittal SA (Amsa) has announced that its long steel product operations, which were previously considered for mothballing, will remain open, saving 3,500 jobs at the steel producer and as many as 80,000 jobs in the value chain.
In an announcement on Monday, the company said that “despite progress being slower than anticipated and with some instances of disappointment” around negotiations with labour to reduce costs among others, it had “decided that the longs business will continue” to operate. The company said that its board and management were fully aware of the impact that the closure of the long steel business would have had on the beneficiation and manufacturing value chain in addition to further impacts on jobs and on the local economy, especially in KwaZulu-Natal. It noted that the immediate impact on the Unemployment Insurance Fund alone could have run into billions of rand. In deciding to keep the plants operational, Amsa noted that negotiations for the rail and ports parastatal Transnet to guarantee port and rail service efficiency had “progressed well”, while the company had also obtained an additional 12-month working capital facility of R1 billion that could be used to support ongoing operations. Meanwhile however, the flat steel products business in Vanderbijlpark experienced instability at its blast furnaces in April and May due to chilled hearth conditions.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tawanda Karombo at Business Report
- Read too, Steel jobs crisis averted as ArcelorMittal SA keeps plants open, at BusinessLive
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page