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Azerbaijanâ€™s largest steelworks shuts down production

06 January 2009 12:53 (UTC +04:00)

Namig Ahmadov, Press Secretary of the Company, said more than 1 000 workers were laid off a temporarily because of shutdown.
â€œProduction has been suspended at the plant because we are not able to get the necessary volume of metal scrap for to production. Scrap dealers are not satisfied with the price we pay for scraps. We pay AZN 115 for metal scraps per ton now, compared to AZN 200 previously. The reason is that we previously sold reinforcements, the plantâ€™s main product, for AZN 1 100 per ton while the price dropped to AZN 620 soon after the world financial crisis. We did it because the prices of reinforcements imported from Russia and Ukraine had decreased,â€ he added.
According to him, the workers were laid off for 35 days on paid leave. He said the plant is due to resume production in a month.
The workers who were made temporarily redundant are those who were reinstated after being laid off in November for repair work in a foundry shop.
At present the plant employs more than 1 700 workers.
Established in 2001, Baku Steel Company manufactures reinforcements.