Turkish steelmaker Çemtaş Çelik Makina Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş (Çemtaş), based at Bursa Organize Industry Zone in northwestern Turkey, has announced the layoff of 49 employees due to the current downturn in the steel sector.
In a statement to the Istanbul Stock Exchange, Çemtaş stated that the effects of the global crisis were strongly felt in the automotive and iron and steel industries, adding that, as demand had fallen rapidly in consequence of slow excess inventory consumption and the recession in both the international and domestic markets, the production operations of the company had nearly come to a halt in the first month of 2009.
"Due to all the factors in question, from the last quarter of 2008 Çemtaş has had to lay off 49 workers from several units, comprising 15 percent of the company's total workforce. Severance pay and other benefits to those laid off totaled TRL 730,437," Çemtaş said in its statement.
Çemtaş is a joint-stock company operating on premises of 101,000 m2, and producing output to meet demand for quality steel from the automotive sub-contraction industry. With its steel plant and a modern medium section rolling mill, Çemtaş produces 140 x 140 - 160x160 mm square billets of more than 250 steel grades at its steel melt shop, as well as a wide range of spring steel bars, flat steel bars, round sections, square sections and hexagonal sections. Its rolling mill has an annual capacity of 210,000 mt.