Thyssenkrupp to Reduce Capacity ay Duisburg Plant, Cut Jobs

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Thyssenkrupp rolled out details of its restructuring program for troubled steel division. This comprises of significant cut in production capacity at its Duisburg, Germany facility, which in turn is expected to lead to considerable job cuts, which are yet to be quantified. It must be noted that the company has been struggling to make progress in turning around the business.

According to the company announcement, the move will see the plant’s production capacity being reduced by approximately one-fifth to around 9-9.5 million tons per year. This is in line with the average shipment levels recorded over the past three decades. It must be noted that the site has a total production capability of around 11.5 million tons.

Thyssenkrupp noted that the revamp of its steel business has become necessary, mainly on account of falling steel demand and tougher competition from cheaper imports coming from countries in the Asian region. The recently announced restructuring acts could impact downstream processing as well as administration and service areas.

Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe employs around 27,000 people, with majority of them at the Duisburg site. The unit has capacity to produce nearly 12 million metric tons of steel per year. However, the steel sales totalled only around 9 million tons. Furthermore, the sales are projected to witness further decline in future.