ArcelorMittal has been cutting costs at its U.S. operations, where it's looking to close finishing lines, including at ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor in East Chicago.
The Luxembourg-based steelmaker said it's been scaling back at a time when imports have captured a record 29 percent of the U.S. market share and prices are depressed.
"As a result of this challenging environment, our U.S. operations have implemented a number of cost savings initiatives including reduced purchasing, supplier and operating costs and a revised health care plan for our salaried employees," the company said in a statement. "We also have been working tirelessly to achieve strong trade enforcement to battle the floor of unfairly traded imports and to improve our performance through asset optimization planning."
On Friday ArcelorMittal reported it lost $6.7 billion over the last three months of the year. It lost $7.9 billion for the year, with much of the loss due to impairments.
About 12,000 steelworkers in the United States lost their jobs last year, due to the unprecedented import crisis, according to the Alliance for American Manufacturing. A flood of cheap imports was largely blamed on China, which went from exporting about 90 million tons of steel in 2014 to about 120 million tons in 2015, throwing world steel markets into turmoil.
The United Steelworkers union says the company has been using market conditions as leverage during ongoing contract negotiations. ArcelorMittal says it is essential to cut costs in North America after five straight years of losing money here, when capital expenses are factored in.
"We continue to be transparent about the challenges facing the steel industry and our USA operations," the company said in a statement. "Macroeconomic factors including global steel industry overcapacity, record high import levels from non-market economies and a strong U.S. dollar, have created an unsustainable operating environment for our industry."
Source: NWITimes