Liberty’s restructuring plans dismay Luxembourg government

Liberty Steel’s announcement that it will have its site in Dudelange supplied from Romania in future is causing scepticism among Luxembourg’s policymakers. They appear to be preparing a plan B for the coil plant in case Liberty chooses to divest it after all, according to a Luxemburger Wort report.

The group is about to merge its Liège-Dudelange and Magona coil processing plants into the Liberty Galati organisation, so that the Romanian steelworks will become their primary hot rolled coil provider (see Kallanish passim).

Luxembourg’s economy minister Franz Fayot is annoyed because he was not informed about these plans, writes the Luxemburg newspaper.

The fact that the coils will come from Galati instead of ArcelorMittal in future will mean a deterioration in steel quality, claims Luxemburgmember of parliament Laurent Mosar.

Reportedly, state investment company SNCI is looking into alternatives for Dudelange. There are also talks with “potential industrial partners” whose names he cannot mention, the paper quotes Fayot as saying.

Christian Koehl Germany