ArcelorMittal`s (ISPA.AS) Ukraine unit, the largest steel mill in the country, expects a 20 percent reduction in output this year and will cut investments on lower demand, a senior company executive said on Thursday, Reuters reported.
Local Chief Executive Jean Jouet said steel output at the Kryviy Rih plant would fall to 5 million tonnes this year from 6.2 million tonnes in 2008.
"In November we shipped around 250,000 tonnes for a plan of more than 500,000. So, if the trend goes this way this year, we should reach 5 million tonnes," Jouet told reporters.
Steelmakers in Ukraine, the world`s eighth-largest producer, have been hit hard by falling demand and prices. Metal production -- including steel and ore -- fell 43 percent in the first quarter of this year against the same period last year.
Jouet said investments this year would be "significantly lower" and that the company would concentrate on short-term projects that will reap benefits quickly. He did not specify any figures.
ArcelorMittal had been planning to spend $3 billion on modernising the complex, built during the Soviet Union before the Second World War, but the plan was drawn up last year before the global financial crisis hit Ukraine.
