Romania’s COS Targoviste has announced it will halt production indefinitely and is laying off 1,200 employees due to financial concerns arising from weak demand during the pandemic. The beleaguered company had previously announced plans to restart production in July.
According to its 2019 annual report, COS Targoviste was operating with over 1,300 employees at the end of last year. The billet casting and rebar rolling company had suspended operations in January after it underwent judicial reorganization in December 2019.
The company, previously owned by Russia’s Mechel, struggled financially and was declared insolvent from 2013-2019. The lack of working capital in the midst of weak domestic and export steel demand prompted the announcement to suspend production indefinitely and layoff a part of its workforce.
Mazur Investments Limited Cipru, owned by Romania’s Invest Nkarom, owns 87pc of COS Targoviste, the state of Romania holds 4pc, and the remainder is owned by diverse shareholders.
COS Targoviste is a billet casting and rebar rolling plant with a capacity of casting 45,000mt of billet per month. The company’s steelmaking capacity declined from 1mn nt in 1993 to 575,000mt in 2015, down 46pc. Steelmaking in Romania decreased by 51pc to 8.5mn mt in 2015 from 17.5mn mt in 1993 according to OECD estimates.