After a mid-August break, Liberty Magona, based in Piombino, Italy, resumed production activities on Monday, August 23, local media reported.
The painting and galvanizing lines were the first to be restarted. As previously reported by SteelOrbis, production lines, including pickling and rolling plants, had already been restarted at the beginning of August thanks to the arrival of coils from Liberty Steel's plant in Galati, Romania. Liberty Magona, which employs about 500 employees, had to stop its activities for about two months due to the lack of feedstocks materials (coils). The supply problem was linked to the financial problems suffered by the group lead by Sanjeev Gupta since March this year, when major lender Greensill Capital collapsed. To overcome these issues, the Galati plant, which Liberty Steel took over from ArcelorMittal in 2019, was made the main supplier of raw materials to Liberty Steel's European processing plants. The transition to full production in Piombino will be completed in September. From this month onwards, Galati should provide Magona 60-70 percent of its needs.
"Despite the challenges, our core businesses continue to perform very well, and we are taking advantage of the excellent market conditions we face. Much remains to be done, but we believe that we are now making rapid progress in building faith with our creditors and other stakeholders through our restructuring plan. We are moving with significant momentum towards a profitable, restructured and focused business," said Sanjeev Gupta, executive president of GFG Alliance, a few weeks ago.