Today's Labour News

Business Times reports that potential investors are circling the long-steel business of ArcelorMittal SA (Amsa) as the company prepares to shut down those plants after attempts to save the operations failed to yield results.

A group of black businesses interested in acquiring the operations is apparently in the process of putting together a package deal. The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) could be roped in as a finance and equity partner in any such deal. However, those in the know said the move was still in its infancy. Amsa, SA’s biggest steel producer, said in January it would be winding down its long-steel plants in Newcastle and Vereeniging, which would lead to 3,500 job losses and put a further 25,000 jobs in the steel value chain at risk. The company delayed the shutdown for a month for further talks with the government and some stakeholders, to consider options to keep the business going and resuscitate a sector that has been ailing for decades. The company said in a statement on Friday that despite its “best efforts”, the parties had not been able to find solutions to avoid the winding down of the long-steel business. CEO Kobus Verster said the company was “deeply disappointed that all our efforts over the last year have not translated into a sustainable solution, resulting in a significant negative impact on the economy, the loss of approximately 3,500 direct and indirect jobs and a detrimental impact on the local community in Newcastle”. The shutdown of Amsa’s blast furnace is expected in the first week of March, with the last long steel to be produced by late March and early April. Amsa said the final wind down into care and maintenance should be fully implemented in the second quarter of 2025.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Dineo Faku at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)

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