MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina Leading steel producer to cut output due to crisis

“We stop production to adjust the level of stock to the lower current and projected sales,” an Acindar executive explained

Argentine steel producer Acindar will stop output at its four plants in the country between March 18 and April 15 as a result of the country's recession which led to a drop in sales of around 40%, it was announced Tuesday.

Workers will be granted a leave and all overtime will be cut, it was also explained, but there will be no layoffs for the time being. The stoppage may be extended if output conditions do not improve.

“ArcelorMittal Acindar informs that, as a result of the sustained fall in demand in the domestic market, which has impacted on an abrupt reduction of between 35 and 40% of sales in recent months, the company is forced to readjust production levels according to the new levels of activity,” the company said in a statement.

The purpose of these extraordinary measures is to “minimize the impact of the current situation,” it went on. The company also pledged to double down its “efforts to preserve people, understanding that the only way to achieve this is to guarantee the sustainability of the business.”

“We knew that it was going to be a difficult year, but the fall is much higher than we projected. In the 20 years that I have been working in the company, there has never been a similar collapse,” Acindar's Director of Institutional Relations Facundo Velasco said in a radio interview.

Regarding the sharp drop in sales, Velasco said that “it is a general situation in the country, which is beyond the company's possibilities. Demand from industry and construction has fallen sharply,” he said.

“We stop production to adjust the level of stock to the lower current and projected sales,” he also explained.

Acindar (Industria Argentina de Aceros S.A.), a benchmark company in the industry, was founded in 1942. It has four plants in Villa Constitución (Santa Fe), San Nicolás (Buenos Aires), La Tablada (Rosario, Santa Fe), and Villa Mercedes (San Luis). It also has a distribution network of 125 points of sale nationwide.