ArcelorMittal closes another plant in Spain

ArcelorMittal stops long products at Zumarraga and reassigns employees to other factories. This is the second time in two months that production lines have been cut in Spain.

The company attributes this move to extremely difficult market conditions, which have led to a 20 percent decline in profitability over the past 4 years. This is the result of high energy prices and dumped steel imports from China, according to an ArcelorMitta spokesman.

"Despite significant efforts to improve production quality and cost-effectiveness and profit margins, high electricity prices and the need to buy carbon dioxide rights have resulted in unbalanced losses," the company announced in a press release. This is the second recent closure of a plant in Spain, located in the Basque Country.