The Board of ArcelorMittal , South Africa is closing down its Saldanha plant due to operational difficulties and severe financial losses.
In a press statement issued, the company said that winding up operations of Saldanha’s steel plant would begin immediately and is anticipated to be completed during the first quarter of 2020.
The company in a carefully worded press release said that the hard decision was taken with proper consultation with the government and organized labor. It alluded that there is no other alternative before the company except winding up due the dire situation in the South African steel industry. However, it said that as far as reasonably possible, the Company will make every effort to minimize the impact of the orderly and commercial wind-down. Contractual domestic sales orders from Saldanha will now be fulfilled from the Vanderbijlpark Works.
