STEEL PLANTS IN SPAIN SUSPEND PRODUCTION

In the area of Cadiz, located in the southwestern part of the country, the Los Barrios plant has suspended its work. The company belongs to the existing company Acerinox since 1970 – the largest manufacturer of stainless steel products. The corporation is capable of producing up to 1.2 million tons of steel annually.

More recently, the company reported on the difficult process of overcoming the negative consequences of the pandemic. In 2021, the firm reported for the previous fiscal year. It completed it with revenue of €4,668 million, which was 2% less than in 2019. It is difficult to predict what the results of the current year will be.

The plant announced the introduction of special regulations. The management declares a forced shutdown of work, which will last until September 15.

The company's CEO Bernardo Velasquez noted that the procedure could be extended in time if electricity prices continue to rise. In this scenario, the whole business will become unprofitable.

Another victim of the energy crisis was the Arcelor Mittal Corporation. The company has closed several production facilities in Western Europe. In particular, the work of Arcelor Mittal, located in Bremen, has been suspended. The plant in Hamburg (Germany) specialized in the processing of scrap metal. Representatives of Arcelor Mittal Corporation said that a blast furnace capable of smelting 1.8 million tons of metal annually will be stopped at the Dunkirk plant (France). The decrease in demand from the automotive industry leads to the need to stop two galvanizing production lines there at once.

The company's management believes that metallurgy is losing competitiveness. 

In Spain itself, the Aceria Compacta de Bizkaia (ACB) plant, also known under the Sestao brand, was never put back into operation. It was planned to be launched by early September after repairs. And although the company's enterprise plays the role of a maneuverable production designed for an operational restart, at the moment its hot-rolled shops remain in a state of complete inactivity.