Besides the furnaces, the company’s investment plan includes a further €150-200 mln for building a new coke battery by 2011, provided that the steel market resumes growth. At the end of the first six months of 2009, ArcelorMittal decided at the group level to reduce coke production in order to cut expenses, so it shut down the batteries at Galaţi, and suspended investments in the new coke battery.
Le Gall said that he expects the market to bounce back as of 2012-2013, considering the global forecasts made by analysts. At present, the operations developed by the Galaţi steel complex are 50 percent below the production registered in 2007 and in 2008.
“The situation has improved compared to the first six months, but, if we compare with the corresponding period in 2008, we are far from the level registered in normal market conditions,” Le Gall said, warning that the crisis is not over yet. According to the official, in the first half of this year, ArcelorMittal Galaţi posted a decline in net sales of more than 70 percent, above the 60 percent drop in production volume in H1. However, at present, the volume of production is about 40 percent lower, registering a slight improvement compared to the first six months. Prices have also registered a slight improvement. “At present, prices rose some 20 percent compared to the lowest level registered in H1,” Le Gall added.
ArcelorMittal Galaţi is undergoing a full restructuring process at both technical and management levels. “We invested a lot of money at Galaţi so far, but the operations were not very efficient. We must change the way we manage projects,” Le Gall said. One of the measures taken by the ArcelorMittal manager at Galaţi is laying off temporarily 10 percent of the company’s staff.
