ArcelorMittal Italia, formerly known as Ilva, will lay off 1,395 workers from its plant in Taranto for a period of 13 weeks beginning in early July, the company said on Wednesday June 5.
"It's a difficult decision but market conditions are really critical throughout Europe. These are temporary measures [and] steel is a cyclical market," the chief executive officer of ArcelorMittal Italia, Matthieu Jehl, said.Poor demand, partly explained by the slowdown in the automotive sector, and growing steel import volumes have been the main drivers behind a decrease in the domestic coil price in Europe this year. As a result, ArcelorMittal has already announced two rounds of production cuts intended to achieve balance between supply and demand.In late May, the steelmaker said that it was going to reduce primary flat steel production from its facilities at Dunkirk in France and the Eisenh? 1/4 ttenstadt and...