As of: February 29, 2024, 7:41 a.m
By: Marcel Reich
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Thyssenkrupp boss Miguel Lopez has been negotiating for months with Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky's EPH holding company about a steel joint venture.
© Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa
Thyssenkrupp contradicts reports of massive job cuts at its steel subsidiary.
The company describes the speculation as “dubious.”
Munich - Thyssenkrupp has spoken out against reports of cuts at the steel subsidiary.
The group responded on Wednesday evening to a report in the “Handelsblatt” that at least 5,000 of the 27,000 jobs at Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe could be lost.
“We are surprised by the speculation expressed in Handelsblatt,” the company said.
Steel supervisory board chairman Sigmar Gabriel said in an interview with the “Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung” that the steel board is currently developing proposals for restructuring the steel division, which will be discussed with co-determination and the committees in mid-April.
“At this point in time, all speculation about potentially affected units is speculation and is highly dubious.
This is completely unnecessarily fueling fears and concerns among our employees.”
Thyssenkrupp's economically sensitive steel business has been a problem for some time
The “Handelsblatt” had reported that the steel subsidiary was threatened with drastic cuts.
The board of Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe is working on a concept that would involve closing at least one blast furnace and two rolling mills at the Duisburg site, the newspaper reported, citing company circles.
The plans currently include a reduction in production capacity to around eight to nine million tons.
Internally the program runs under the name “Stream”.
Thyssenkrupp stated that there was no project with these names.
The group has been looking for a solution for the economically vulnerable steel business for years.
CEO Miguel Lopez has been negotiating for months with Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky's EPH holding company about a steel joint venture - so far without results.
Steel supervisory board chairman Gabriel pointed out in the newspaper interview that Steel Europe currently has annual production capacities of almost twelve million tons, but only sells nine million tons.
“It certainly cannot be ruled out that when capacity is adjusted, there will also be a reduction in employment,” he added.
With material from Reuters