Global group ArcelorMittal announced the reopening of its steel plant in Hunedoara, Romania, to process the steel brought from Krivoi Rog in Ukraine. The steel mill will resume operations on November 1 with the rolling unit, while the electric furnace may be reopened depending on the prices of raw materials and electricity, Economica.net announced, citing the president of the steelworkers' union, Mircea Bordean.
"The plant will restart after November 1, and the raw material comes from Ukraine, from the Krivoi Rog plant, which is also a factory of the Arcelor group. There, they will make steel blooms for Hunedoara, which will produce long rolled products. Depending on the price of electricity and scrap metal, the electric steel plant will also open," the union leader told Agerpres.
According to him, all 470 employees of the Hunedoara plant were called to work, starting on November 1.
The ArcelorMittal management announced on September 12 that it had decided to permanently stop activity at its factory in Hunedoara, which produces rolled products for the energy, construction, and infrastructure markets, citing very high electricity prices and competition from products coming from outside the EU.
Later, on September 23, ArcelorMittal employees launched a spontaneous protest in front of Oţelăria Electrice 2.
In this context, local authorities and parliamentarians from Hunedoara requested the declassification of the privatisation contract signed with ArcelorMittal by the former company Siderurgica Hunedoara.