What are the prospects for ArcelorMittal Poland

ArcelorMittal Poland is the largest steel producer in Poland, accounting for about 70 percent of the production capacity of the Polish steel industry since 2004, when the company started operations in Poland, investing PLN 6 billion in the modernization of its installations. Half of which went to the metallurgical plant in Krakow.

In 2007-2014, the company implemented an investment program in Krakow worth more than PLN 2.5 billion, which included: construction of a hot rolling mill, modernization of a cold rolling mill and a coke plant, as well as a change in the method of transportation to the furnace for metallurgical plants.

The second phase of this program began in 2015 and has now spent more than PLN 500 million, and in 2017 the company completed projects in the raw materials section of the Krakow Metallurgical Plant with a total value of PLN 200 million. The most important of these was the reconstruction of the only blast furnace, which, according to the group, will be suspended from September.

ArcelorMittal Poland announced that from September it plans to temporarily suspend the work of the raw materials at the Krakow Metallurgical Plant, that is, the furnace and the steel plant. As President Geert Verbeeck announced, the closure will take "months or quarters."

He assured that the company does not intend to release about 1.2 thousand employees employed in the raw material part will be moved to the processing part, that is, to rolling mills, to other companies of the group, or to work performed by third-party companies. Some employees will receive reduced wages.

In connection with the situation, an appeal was drawn up to the head of government with an appeal "to stop importing steel from Eastern Europe and China, sold at dumping prices, which destroys the market by introducing appropriate duties."

An equally important influence on the decision to close the furnace is exerted by the high price of electricity, two times higher than in Germany, the draft resolution noted.