The Russian steelmaker and iron ore producer Evraz Group (Evraz) has announced that as of July 1 this year it will temporarily close the steel melting shop at its Czech-based subsidiary Evraz Vitkovice Steel, due to the current failure in negotiations over prices for hot iron supplies with ArcelorMittal Ostrava, Czech-based subsidiary of the world's largest integrated metals and mining company ArcelorMittal.
"Evraz Vitkovice Steel fully proved its commitment for constructive dialogue and accepted ArcelorMittal Ostrava's pricing formula proposal as a basis for further negotiations over the formula's base price. ArcelorMittal Ostrava effectively rejected the proposal of Evraz Vitkovice Steel regarding the base price and officially stated that its position was unchanged," reads the company's statement.
Accordingly, the temporary closure of Evraz Vitkovice Steel's steel melting shop will not affect its rolling production, which will be maintained at the level achieved in recent months, as its rolling requirements will be covered by the supply of slabs from Slovakia, Ukraine, Turkey, as well as from Evraz's NTMK plant in Russia. Evraz Vitkovice Steel's current annual steelmaking capacity amounts to 950,000 mt.
All workers at Evraz Vitkovice Steel's steel melting shop will remain in their positions or on standby, so that, if agreement with ArcelorMittal Ostrava is reached, they would be able to start up production immediately. The temporary closure plan also counts on alternative employment for the steel shop workers, in case the shop remains closed in August.