German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp has announced that it has decided to shut down one of the two electric arc furnaces at Acciai Speciali Terni (AST), its stainless steel plant in Italy, in 2015-2016 to focus on cold rolled products.
ThyssenKrupp also announced some cost reductions for AST, including savings of more than €100 million and 550 job losses.
ThyssenKrupp's new market-oriented approach forms the basis for the new production concept limiting production volumes to profitable sales only. The shutdown of the furnace might be reviewed only if market conditions improve significantly and all targets have been met.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, AST was transferred to ThyssenKrupp by the Finland-based stainless steelmaker Outokumpu in February this year, along with its high performance alloy unit VDM.
