ANALYSIS
The Future of Macedonia’s
Steel Industry
Interview with
Juan Pedro Jimenez Navarro,
CEO, ArcelorMittal Skopje
EM: Please tell us a bit about your company and its
investment in Macedonia.
ArcelorMittal Skopje (AM Skopje) is one of the most
successful and largest manufacturers in the steel
industry. After acquisition by ArcelorMittal in May
2004, ArcelorMittal Skopje redesigned its products
for an efficient and effective start and provided optimal allocation of all available resources. The company manufactures cold rolled, galvanized and organic coated sheets. These products are easily customizable, which significantly facilitates the process
of cold forming, and also are ideal for drawing cold
valanite sheets used for rolling and drawing, where
strength, hardness and elasticity are needed in one
package. They are commonly used in the manufacture of home appliances, roofs and gutters, tubes,
sandwich panels, furniture, radiators and drums.
Hot galvanized products can be used in a very wide
range of applications for industrial markets as well as
indoor and outdoor spaces. Specially developed to
meet the need for strength, durability and efficiency,
plasticized sheet is the default solution for high quality products with organic coating. We sell our products mainly in the Balkan region, EU-28 and Turkey.
Through the core values of leadership, quality and
sustainability, we are committed to work in a responsible way with respect to the health, safety and welfare of our employees and the community in which
we operate.
Emerging Macedonia Fall 2013 Issue 39
In the last year, the company invested 3.5 million
Euros in a new galvanizing furnace, which was presented at last year’s Customer Day. The investment
raised our views on the state-of-the-art technology
of galvanizing steel, and enables us to deliver better
quality products and comply with the environmental
regulations.
EM: In steel production, just how much of a role
does energy play in ensuring your global
competitiveness? What are the other key
factors to your competitiveness?
Energy makes up a full 30% of the transformation
cost of AM Skopje’s CRM. Any energy price change
has a direct impact on our competitiveness. Therefore, energy price stability must be a key outcome
of the cooperation between government and private companies to ensure the competitiveness of
the economy overall. Though the cost of gas has
improved in the last several months, it is still higher than other neighboring countries where our competito