The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Ascoval: Saarstahl confirms the abandonment of his transfer project in Germany

2021-11-19T17:11:13.351Z


This option had been considered to cope with the increase in electricity prices. The German steel group Saarstahl said on Friday that it had abandoned the transfer to Germany of part of the production of the French steel plant Ascoval, in the North, after having mentioned it to cope with the rise in electricity prices, confirming information communicated Thursday evening by Bercy. Read alsoThe Ascoval steelworks at the heart of a new political battle " Discussions regarding


The German steel group Saarstahl said on Friday that it had abandoned the transfer to Germany of part of the production of the French steel plant Ascoval, in the North, after having mentioned it to cope with the rise in electricity prices, confirming information communicated Thursday evening by Bercy.

Read alsoThe Ascoval steelworks at the heart of a new political battle

"

Discussions regarding a possible limited and temporary transfer of volumes are no longer pursued,

" the company said in a statement.

The group underlined the "

success

" of "

numerous talks

" with "

customers, suppliers, members of staff

", which took place in "

collaboration with the French authorities

".

The management of Saarstahl, which bought the Ascoval plant in Saint-Saulve four months ago, had, according to the unions, announced on Tuesday the project to relocate 40% of its production.

Anger of political figures

The motive for the relocation was the higher cost of electricity, the main energy used at this site to produce steel, which made the total cost of production higher than that of coal-fired factories in Germany. Saarstahl had not confirmed, claiming to have taken "

no decision

", but admitted that he was studying "

temporary options

" to "

limit the negative effects

" of this increase, when his blast furnaces in Germany turn to coal, although cheaper.

The announcement had aroused the anger of many elected politicians, and a commotion in the government to maintain production at all costs in this iconic steelworks.

"

The State was able to sensitize all the actors (...) so that quite simply there is a solution which is found

", welcomed Friday a source within the cabinet of the Minister of Industry Agnes Pannier Runnacher.

Read alsoHow Bercy forced Gupta to sell Ascoval and Hayange

The compromise was made possible thanks to "

the renegotiation of the contractual conditions concerning the rails

", she added.

The subject was sensitive, as the fate of Ascoval has mobilized in recent years the government and Emmanuel Macron, both as Minister of the Economy under François Hollande, then since his arrival at the Elysee Palace.

Source: lefigaro

All business articles on 2021-11-19

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-28T09:05:31.084Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.