STEEL PRODUCERS HEADLINESSteel Producers
JSW and ArcelorMittal Poland Sign Letter of Intent
Jul. 3, 2012 JSW and ArcelorMittal Poland have signed a letter of intent: the parties are interested in prolonging cooperation in the supply of coking coal, coke gas and coke for the next few years, as well as in extending supplies of blast furnace gas and exchange of technical expertise.
“As a leader in coking coal and coke production, we make every effort to strengthen cooperation with our key business partners in areas in which we can mutually achieve synergy effects. We are happy that the letter of intent signed today with our long-term customer, ArcelorMittal Poland, will allow us to develop our activity and ensure more stable operations of our plants,” said Jarosław Zagórowski, Chairman of JSW. “Both parties have an excellent understanding of the market situation and thus the same goal – long-term cooperation - thanks to which both companies will be able to achieve their strategic objectives,” he added.
“This letter of intent is a sign of further strengthening of our cooperation, with the objective of creating strategic projects which will benefit both the organizations. JSW is our reliable long-term partner in the scope of raw materials supplies, and we value our growing partnership,” said Sanjay Samaddar, Chairman of ArcelorMittal Poland. “Extending the cooperation will be conditioned by a number of technical and economic analyses, which we are going to carry out shortly, but I believe that we are working towards a very positive outcome.”
The JSW Group is the largest producer of high quality type 35 (hard) coking coal and a significant coke producer in the European Union. At its own coke plants, the JSW Group processes approximately 40% of the coking coal it produces, which enables it to offer a final product that is processed and of higher value. The company is also a producer of steam coal, sold mainly to power plants and CHP plants.
In 2011, 8.8 million tonnes of coking coal (including 7.3 million tonnes of type 35 coking coal) and 3.8 million tonnes of steam coal were excavated at JSW mines. In 2011, 3.1 million tonnes of coke were produced by coke plants belonging to JSW.
ArcelorMittal Poland is the biggest steel producer in the Polish market with about 70% of Polish steel production capacity. The company consists of five steel plants located in Krakow, Dabrowa Gornicza, Sosnowiec, Swietochlowice and Chorzow. It also owns the largest coke plant in Europe – ZK Zdzieszowice. ArcelorMittal Poland employs over 12,000 people and over 15,000 if subsidiaries are taken into account. The company produces a wide range of long, flat, special and semi products for construction, transport and white goods industries.