On January 21, employees of El-Hajar-based ArcelorMittal Annaba, Algerian subsidiary of the world's largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal, have resumed work following a nine-day strike which halted production at the steel plant, after the company agreed to the workers' demands.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, about 7,200 workers at the plant had gone on strike demanding the reopening of the coking plant with 600,000 metric tons annual production capacity, which was closed in October 2009 for safety and environmental reasons.
It is reported that the plant's administration has decided to renovate the coking plant, with an investment estimated at $40 million. Prior to the strike, which caused the company to lose 3,000 metric tons of steel production per day, the company administration had decided to invest $200 million in the modernization of the steel plant, with no investment earmarked for the coking plant.
In 2009, the Annaba plant produced 750,000 metric tons of flat and long products, mainly for the Algerian domestic market. The plant's annual crude steel production capacity is about 2 million metric tons.