Steel plants' production down 75% in H1

Tenaris Donasid Calarasi and ArcelorMittal Hunedoara steel plants have been closed for most of this year, with output in the first six months dropping to less than one quarter compared with the same time in 2008, according to the data of the Romanian Association of Metal Distributors (ARDIMET). This comes after the business slowdown witnessed by the domestic players last year, with the national production dropping 20% compared with 2007, to about 4.9 million tonnes of raw steel. The ArcelorMittal Hunedoara plant made only 31,900 tonnes of raw steel in the first half, a decline of 78% compared with the same time of 2008. In turn, the Italians at Tenaris made about 45,800 tonnes at their plant in Calarasi, a quarter of the output in the first six months of last year. Tenaris closed its main plant in Italy in July, as a result of the 70% production drop in the first part of 2009, which raises doubts about the viability of the two plants held by the group in Romania. At the same time, the Italians conducted a redundancy programme, which also included 150 employees in Romania in the steel plants that Tenaris has in Zalau and Calarasi.