Sidenor S.A. announces that its Board of Directors as well as the Boards of Directors of its subsidiaries, namely Sovel S.A., Erlikon S.A., Praksys S.A. and Etil S.A. decided on March 27, 2020, the temporary suspension of their main production activities, assigning their employees a non-active status, for one month starting from April 2, 2020 and ending on May 3, 2020, while at the same time administration staff will work on a part-time basis. During the aforementioned period, the commercial activities both in Greece and abroad and delivery of raw materials (steel scrap) at these companies will remain unaffected.
The Boards of Directors of the companies reached these decisions, due to the ongoing difficult conditions prevailing in the international steel market, which sharply deteriorated as a result of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, drastically reducing demand for their products due to the severe downturn in the construction sector and in activities using steel as a raw material. Under new market conditions, existing inventory can meet current customer needs. The above measures, at this stage, are expected to minimize the impact on both the production cost and the liquidity of the companies, while safeguarding the steel supply chain and customer service.
It is noted that many steel mills have already taken such measures on both European and international level.