The Bosnian iron ore unit of global steel giant ArcelorMittal will meet its target of 1,850,000 metric tons of iron ore for 2011, a 30 percent increase from the year before, a company official has said, even though a railway strike halted production for several weeks.
"Total revenues in 2011 amounted to 100 million Bosnian marka ($66 million), which is 40 percent more than in 2010," Predrag Sorga, a spokesman for ArcelorMittal Prijedor mines, told Reuters on Thursday, December 15.
Mr. Sorga said that around 100,000 mt of its ore could not be shipped to customers because of the strike in question, which cost the company, based in northwestern Bosnia, around BAM 4 million.
ArcelorMittal Prijedor was forced to halt production at its main plant in mid-October for nearly a month because its storage sites were full and it could not deliver supplies due to the strike by engine drivers in the Serb region of Bosnia.
At one point, the company considered sending home most of its 850 employees.
The Balkan country's sole steelmaker, ArcelorMittal Zenica, located in central Bosnia, has said it expects to return to pre-crisis production levels of 650,000 mt this year thanks to increased domestic demand.
ArcelorMittal Zenica said it expected its output to rise by 10 percent year on year in 2012.