Italian Government Rejects ArcelorMittal Revised Plan for Ilva
ANSA reported that Italian Premier Mr Giuseppe Conte said “ArcelorMittal's plans to cut 4,700 jobs in the ex-ILVA steel group is absolutely not OK and is very similar to an initial plan to axe 5,000 jobs. Therefore the government rejects the plan.We reject it and we will work on the objectives we have set with Mr Mittal in which Mr Mittal has personally pledged to me to reach and we will succeed.”
Industry Minister Stefano Patuanelli said the government would now advance its own plan to get to an output of eight million tonnes and safeguard jobs. He said that “He is disappointed with the steps backward taken by ArcelorMittal. The Italian State is willing to invest in the group.”
Unions also rejected a new plan by ArcelorMittal for the former ILVA steel group envisaging 4,700 lay offs by 2023, including 2,891 immediately, and called a strike on December 10.
Under the previous plan agreed with the Italian government in 2018, ArcelorMittal had said that it would increase Ilva's output to 6 million tonnes per year of crude steel from 4.5 million tonnes per year currently and then systematically lift output to 8.5 million tonnes per year by 2023 with around 11,000 workers. ArcelorMittal Italia wants to produce around 4.5 million tonne per year of crude steel next year with three blast furnaces BF1, BF2 and BF4 that are operational now. It plans to raise production to 6 million tonne per year of crude steel from 2021 to 2024, initially using the same three blast furnaces. BF2 will stop production in 2023 to be replaced by a new electric arc furnace that will use a hybrid solution with scrap, pig iron and direct reduced iron. The new EAF investment would be around EUR 230 million and will have lower carbon emissions. The new plan depends on the pending decision for BF2 in which the court in Taranto will rule by December 13 on whether to keep it operational. Under the new plan, the company will not revamping BF5, the largest of the former Ilva plant, with a capacity of around 4.5 million tonnes of crude steel a year. The revamping of linked batteries 10 and 11 will also not go ahead, saving the company EUR 250 million. The company will also save an additional EUR 180 million through reducing the size of the iron ore park and avoiding work on BF2.
Source : ANSA