ArcelorMittal Galati posted almost 4 billion lei (almost EUR900 billion) losses in 2005-2014, while revenue halved to RON3.6 billion.
The imports of Chinese steel into the European Union have reached a record high and are expected to amount to 6.5 million tons this year, up from the 4.9 million tons in 2014 and almost double the 3.5 million tons of 2013, says Bruno Ribo, chief executive officer of ArcelorMittal Galati.
“Results in the fourth quarter have been affected by the massive cheap imports from China,” Ribo said.
This does not affect only Romania but the entire Europe. The surplus of cheap steel from China caused a decline in sale prices, which caused ArcelorMittal Galati to post negative EBITDA again, he added.
China’s production capacity currently exceeds consumption so it is trying to sell the surplus steel to other markets, the executive explained.
The imports of cheap steel from China made the ArcelorMittal Galati management decide to reduce the working time of the 6,400 employees by two to six days in the first quarter of 2016.
To be able to cope with competition from non-EU countries, ArcelorMittal Galati invested with the help of its parent group EUR350 million in labor safety and technology to cut production costs and improve productivity and energy efficiency.
ArcelorMittal Galati exports two thirds of the production at the former Sidex because it is too big for the local market, where its market share stands at more than 50%. However, it has almost attained its goal to boost production by 25% to 2 million tons this year, despite the ‘difficult market’, Bruno Ribo said.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)