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Corus Plans Further Action to Balance Production with Demand

11/10/2008 - Corus announces plans to extend previously announced production cuts beyond December, including temporary blast furnace idling at the Scunthorpe, Ijmuiden, and Port Talbot works.

Corus has announced it will extend its previously announced production cuts beyond December.
 
The company had announced production curtailments last month as part of its effort to align production levels with demand in the European market. At the time, the company planned to reduce its third-quarter (Oct-Dec 2008) production by 1 million tonnes of crude steel, equivalent to 20% of its output.
 
Now, Corus says it expects to produce about 30% less crude steel than originally planned during the two quarters that run through the end of March 2009.
 
As part of the additional production curtailment, Corus will temporarily idle one blast furnace at each of its Scunthorpe, Ijmuiden, and Port Talbot works. The company also will adjust output levels on its downstream production units to suit market conditions in their respective regions and end-use sectors.
 
“The current slowdown requires us to adapt our operations to the changing environment with maximum speed,” said Corus CEO Philippe Varin. “We are adopting proactive and responsible measures in the areas of production and costs to optimize our results. Meanwhile, our strategy for long-term growth remains unchanged.”
 
Corus is Europe's second largest steel producer with annual revenues of more than £12 billion and annual crude steel production of about 20 million tonnes. With main steelmaking operations primarily in the U.K. and the Netherlands, Corus provides innovative solutions to the construction, automotive, packaging, mechanical engineering and other markets worldwide.
 
Corus is a subsidiary of Tata Steel, one of the world's top ten steel producers. Following the acquisition of Corus last year, the combined enterprise has an aggregate crude steel capacity of more than 30 million tonnes and approximately 82,700 employees across four continents.