AvestaPolarit plans to proceed with a restructuring of the group’s stainless steel melting activities. The plan calls for the closure of the Degerfors melting shop and billet rolling facilities in Sweden by mid-2003 and the transfer of production to the UK. An investment of EUR 22 million will be made to instal continuous casting facilities for blooms and billets at the group’s melting shop in Sheffield. AvestaPolarit’s Hot Rolled Plate business unit will continue to operate at the Degerfors site. AvestaPolarit is currently operating four stainless steel melting shops –in Tornio, Avesta, Sheffield and Degerfors – with a combined capacity of approximately 2 million tonnes. Ongoing major expansion at the Tornio facilities will within the next few years bring an additional 1 million tonnes of new capacity on stream. This will give the group surplus capacity over its projected downstream requirements, and consequently provides an opportunity to proceed with the necessary reconfiguration of AvestaPolarit’s existing melting shop structure to further reduce costs and ensure sustained profitability at world-class levels.
