ArcelorMittal Hunedoara on profit in 2014, after many years of crisis

Romania needs electricity produced in thermal power plants to reach its goal of energy independence. Two years ago the Oltenia and Hunedoara complex energy units were on the brink of bankruptcy.
The government made huge efforts to rescue these companies and keep them in the energy market, Prime Minister Victor Ponta said during his official visit on Thursday at the ArcelorMittal ironworks in Hunedoara county, gov.ro informs. “They were good to shut down. (…) Romania has this huge advantage of having all the types of electricity – hydro, nuclear, renewable and thermal – and I’m not talking only about saving jobs, which of course is essential; I’m talking about our strategy of becoming energy independent; of course, for this we need the thermal power production,” Ponta declared.
He pointed out that the steps taken by the government aim at giving a clear perspective to these energy complexes and to their technological overhaul, so as to result in competitive production costs.
According to the management of ArcelorMittal Hunedoara, the company will close this year on a profit. “’I understood from the management this is the first year on a plus, in the black, after many years of crisis; jobs are guaranteed, everybody is counting on a production increase (…) All the efforts we made since 2012 – firstly to save the ironworks industry, because closing it altogether was considered, owing to energy prices and to the European and international crisis – I’m glad to see they succeeded,” PM said. He stressed that the Executive will support investors who create and preserve jobs; one of the measures already taken was reducing the employers’ contributions to social insurance.
He mentioned he expects many companies using the amount exempt from tax owing to the lower social contributions to reinvest for new technologies and production increases, and also to reward the workforce.
On the other hand, Ponta mentioned, Hunedoara has the advantage of a road infrastructure offering motorways to the companies; he promised again that the last section of the Deva-Sibiu motorway will be opened on November 15.