Czech-based Třinecké Železárny to increase energy independence with photovoltaic system
The Czech Republic’s largest steelmaker Třinecké Železárny has announced that it has commissioned its newly installed rooftop photovoltaic system within the scope of its decarbonization goals.
Accordingly, the system consisting of 224 solar panels with a capacity of 98.56 kWp in total was installed at the company’s social facilities building. All the generated energy will be directly used by Třinecké Železárny’s rolling mill.
As a result, the investment will not only contribute to the decarbonization of the company’s operations but also reduce its operating costs and increase its energy independence.
Czech car production hits all-time high, Poland mixed
A slump in December could not prevent Czech passenger car production from rising 3.9% on-year in 2024 to 1.45 million vehicles, driven by 4.5% growth in exports, according to Czech Automotive Industry Association data seen by Kallanish. This was an all-time high.
Largest producer Skoda saw output rise 3.7% in 2024 to 896,933 units, while Toyota production surged 17% to 225,058 units. However, Hyundai saw production fall 2.8% to 330,890 vehicles.
The Czech Republic is Central and Eastern Europe’s largest car manufacturer, sourcing automotive steel from US Steel Kosice (USSK) and ArcelorMittal among other suppliers, and producing most cars for export.
Its 2024 performance flies in the face of the doom and gloom surrounding the European automotive industry last year. Passenger car production in largest EU carmaker Germany was stable on-year at 4.1m units (see separate story).
Passenger car production in neighbouring Poland however fared much worse, dropping 28% on-year in 2024 to only 216,200 vehicles, a multi-year low, according to Statistics Poland (GUS).
Polish truck production nevertheless grew 8% to 332,043 units, a multi-year high, while output of buses grew 39% to 7,103 units, the highest since 2019.
Adam Smith Poland
Jindal Steel acquires Czech Republic’s Vítkovice Steel
The acquisition received the green light from the Czech Republic’s Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS) on December 20, 2024, with the change of ownership effective as of January 1 2025, according to documents seen by Fastmarkets.
“We are convinced that this will strengthen the company and the Czech steel industry. The new industrial owner will bring stabilization to the company and, above all, development in the form of investments in production technologies, sharing foreign know-how and moving towards ecologically produced low-emissions steel,” Radek Strouhal, CEO of Vitkovice steel, said in a press release.
Located in Ostrava, Vitkovice is Czech Republic’s sole producer of heavy steel plate, with capacity to produce 800,000 tonnes per year of the material. The company has operated as a re-roller since end-2015, procuring slabs from third parties in Russia, Asia, and the European Union.
Semis supply
Vitkovice has been relying mainly on imports of Russia-origin slabs, sources said, but it plans to procure more semis from its new owner moving forward.
“We plan to get slabs from Jindal in the next years,” a spokesperson for Vitkovice told Fastmarkets, adding that the facility currently has other suppliers.
The new owner has no immediate plans to install a new electric-arc furnace (EAF) and resuming internal slab production, Fastmarkets understands.
Vítkovice is Jindal Group’s first European acquisition. The parties had been negotiating since the spring of 2024, Fastmarkets reported.
Jindal International Group plans to invest up to €150 million ($155.4 million) in the development of the Ostrava facility in the coming years, mainly in the expansion of its capacity and the production of products with higher added value.
Vitkovic’s previous ownership turmoil
Vitkovice was owned by Russian company Evraz Plc until 2014.
Evraz Plc sold its Evraz Vitkovice Steel AS subsidiary to a group of Cyprus-registered private investment companies for $89 million in 2014.
The ownership of the mill became uncertain after that. Several sources told Fastmarkets at the time that the Cypriot companies were affiliated with Russia, notably VEB bank, and probably also Evraz.
In May 2022, the Czech Republic’s Financial Analytical Office blocked the assets of Vitkovice Steel after having recognized that, behind the Cypriot funds owning Vitkovice Steel, there were Russian owners.
This, however, was denied by the company.
“The company is not owned by Russian entities, it is owned by five multinational investment funds based in Cyprus and owned by people from the countries of the former Soviet Union, but not from Russia,” the Vitkovice’s spokesperson told Fastmarkets at the time.
The suspected ownership link to Russia, which the company repeatedly denied, was not confirmed, which led Czech authorities to close the investigation in July 2024, allowing the negotiations with Jindal to move forward.
Trinecke Zelezarny increases Czech output share
Trinecke Zelezarny (TZ)’s crude steel production was more or less flat on-year in 2023 at 2.42 million tonnes, raising its share in Czech output to 71%, the firm says.
This was despite global steel consumption falling for a fourth time in five years and steeply rising energy prices impacting competitiveness.
TZ’s revenue dropped 14% in 2023 to CZK 49.7 billion ($2.13 billion) but the firm still closed with a CZK 44 million profit.
Deliveries of wire rod rose 4% in 2023 to 937,500t, but sales of bars and sections, mainly to the automotive industry, declined 5% to 487,000t. Rail and railway accessories sales were 250,000t, of which 89% was exported, Kallanish notes.
Capital expenditure last year was CZK 1.4 billion, allocated to automation, energy savings, increasing the efficiency of operations, and, most notably, dedusting both blast furnaces.
The firm is working towards the production of low-emission steel, which mainly involves the installation of an electric arc furnace. However, according to TZ supervisory board vice chairman Ján Moder, sufficient clean energy at competitive prices and scrap supply in the European market, as well as effective EU protection measures against imports will be essential for successful decarbonisation. Subsidies will also be crucial, he adds.
Adam Smith Poland
Liberty’s Ostrava sale garners mostly local interest
The sale of Liberty Steel’s Czech Ostrava iron and steel works has garnered interest from a number of parties, mostly local but including Indian company Jindal Steel, a delegation from which showed up at the mill in May, industry sources said June 18.
Other potential buyers included Trinecke Zelezarny, another major steel producer in the Czech Republic with a capacity of 2.5 million-2.6 million mt/year, Czech industrial holding CE Industries (CEI) known in the steel industry for having provided Czech third-largest steel producer Vitkovice Steel with tolling financing, and Czech energy company Sev.en Group, the sources said.
Liberty Steel declined to discuss the sales process and the above-named entities were not available for comment.
Given the ongoing risks and uncertainties, Liberty Steel last week announced a sale of Ostrava and its judicial reorganization under the Insolvency Act.
It had worked on several restructuring plans for Ostrava, including a mid- to long-term transition to electric arc furnace technology.
In April, Sanjeev Gupta, head of GFG Alliance, an umbrella group which Liberty Steel is part of, met Czech finance and industry ministers but the latter found the plans “weak” and “unconvincing” with no breakthrough achieved on the mill’s restart, sources said.
Steel production at Ostrava was halted in the fourth quarter of 2023 when Liberty Steel in October idled blast furnace No. 3, the last remaining operational BF at its Ostrava steelworks, citing poor demand in Europe as the main reason.
Some downstream mills continued rolling, using up previously acquired semi-finished steel stock. Ostrava’s blast furnace No. 2 was idled in July 2022 for repairs and an upgrade but has never been restarted.
Ostrava’s restructuring was hampered by external factors, primarily a further deterioration of market conditions in Europe, an indefinite delay in the allocation of emissions allowances to the business from Czech authorities, Liberty Steel said, adding Ostrava was filing for a judicial reorganization which will provide the time and protection to undertake its sale.
The sale decision was in the best interests of Ostrava’s creditors, employees and customers, said Liberty, which intends to maintain the few assets which cover their own costs and support employees in applying for the state’s Wage Guarantee Scheme.
The Ostrava plant is the Czech Republic’s biggest steel producer capable of making up to 2 million mt/year at full steam. Liberty Steel acquired it from ArcelorMittal in July 2019. After years of underinvestment, it says it injected Eur143 million ($153 million) in the plant and led to its best performance in a few years in 2021-22.
In 2021, Ostrava produced a five-year high of liquid steel at 2.28 million mt with the plant’s two blast furnaces producing 1.93 million mt of hot metal during the year, but last year, its steel production declined to 1 million mt, according to local media reports.
Katya Bouckley
