GFG Alliance wants to invest 750 million euros in its Liberty Ostrava steel plant over the next ten years.
Part of the investment will be to build a new hybrid furnace, the first of its kind in Europe. The rolling mills will also undergo significant modernization.
“We want to support Liberty Ostrava on its way to becoming a leading steel producer in Central Europe,” said Gupta. The company wants to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.
The company thus represents a strategic investment plan, which it developed after a day-long analysis.
“The preparation of this plan was not easy because we are facing one of the most difficult times for the steel industry in Europe,” said Pascal Genest, Liberty Ostrava CEO. The European steel market continues to deteriorate, suffering from declining demand, rising cheap imports, and increasing emission allowance prices.
“However, we are ready to transform Liberty Ostrava into a leading steel producer with clean production and quality products. I look forward to implementing the entire plan that will enable us to deliver better products and services to the region’s demanding market,” Genest said.
The company wants to build new hybrid technology for steel production in the years 2021-2024.
The major modernization is to increase the quality of the steel produced and to improve customer care.
Since July, the plant has been operating at a reduced capacity. Production was cut due to high prices of raw materials and imports of steel from outside the European Union. Company spokeswoman Barbora Cerna Dvorakova said that now all employees are back to work, and production restrictions have ended.
Liberty Ostrava produces steel for the construction, engineering and petrochemical industries. It is a leader in the production of road barriers and pipes. It supplies products to over 40 countries. In 2018, the company produced 2.2 million tons of steel as ArcelorMittal. The company’s production capacity is 3.6 million tons.
The plant is owned by the Liberty Steel Group, part of the GFG Alliance global group headed by Sanjeev Gupty. After acquring plants from ArcelorMittal, the group became the eighth-largest steel producer in the world outside China.