During ThyssenKrupp's quarterly conference call, the company's Chief Executive Heinrich Hiesinger indicated that ThyssenKrupp is evaluating a number of options for its Americas operations--a slab mill in Brazil and a flat rolled steelmaking operation in Calvert, Alabama--including a partnership or sale of the plants. Meanwhile, ramp up of both mills will continue.
"Since the plans for the project were made, the economic parameters both in Brazil and in the USA have changed from our original assumptions," Hiesinger said in a statement. "There are clear reasons that now call this strategy into question." Hiesinger referred to its Steel Americas operations as "our biggest challenge."