SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Steelmaker ArcelorMittal is preparing to resume output at its Bosnia plant in the coming days, a company source said on Tuesday, after halting production there in November due to a drop in steel demand in Europe.
The plant will also resume taking deliveries of iron ore from the ArcelorMittal Prijedor mines it runs in northern Bosnia, the source said.
The head of ArcelorMittal Zenica's trade union, which signed a wage bargaining agreement with management on Monday following a two-month strike, said that two of the plant's operations, including a blast furnace, will restart in the coming days, BHT state television reported and the company source confirmed.
The ArcelorMittal Zenica plant, which produces about 700,000 tonnes of liquid steel annually and employs about 2,200 workers, was Bosnia´s largest exporter last year.
However, it halted output in November due to a continued fall in European steel consumption following the war in Ukraine and the spike in energy prices and output costs.
It also halted deliveries from the Omarska iron ore mines in northern Bosnia, which employ about 850 workers and depend on sales to the Zenica plant.
Government ministers and trade unions have warned that a longer suspension of output at the steel plant and the ore mines could badly affect Bosnia's economy, particularly the transport sector.