AMSA to continue operating longs business, but instability at flats unit hits earnings

Despite a negative trading update, steel producer ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA) has announced that it will continue to operate its longs business, the closure of which was deferred earlier this year while various initiatives aimed at saving the unit were pursued with government, labour and other stakeholders. Any closure would be devastating for workers employed in the longs business, as well as the town of Newcastle, in KwaZulu-Natal, where AMSA’s longs production is centred. It also would have major implications for South Africa’s manufacturing value chain and overall industrialisation.