The world's largest integrated metal and mining company ArcelorMittal will reduce its production operations in Poland this year by 10 to 15 percent compared to 2007.
According to ArcelorMittal spokesperson Andrzej Krzysztalowski, the current period of 2008 sees weakness for steel producers and several sectors, including automotive which is a significant steel consumer, have been slowing down.
In line with the production rollback plans, ArcelorMittal will shut down the furnace in Kraków and speed up repair of a furnace in Katowice.
In 2007, ArcelorMittal Poland, which is the largest steel producer in the country, produced 6.4 million mt of steel.
As previously stated by SteelOrbis, ArcelorMittal's Poland-based subsidiary ArcelorMittal Warszawa had inaugurated a new bar rolling mill with a production capacity of 650,000 mt per year before the global financial crisis reached its peak in early October.
Concerning the production cuts, an ArcelorMittal official has commented to SteelOrbis as follows: "To support the strong destocking activities of our customers, we have initiated significant production cuts and by doing so we are adapting supply to demand. In line with this decision, we are cutting production by 25 percent in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and are reducing the production volume by 10 to 15 percent in Europe. These production cuts are temporary in our view until inventories have reached low levels."