Liberty Galați is resuming production under a tolling arrangement with Glencore and KMC

Despite the agreements having been concluded, the overall situation at the steelworks remains difficult

Romania’s sole producer of sheet steel — the Liberty Galați steelworks — has signed its first agreements on the processing of raw materials (under a tolling arrangement) with the British company Glencore and the Turkish firm Kayseri Metal Center. These agreements could enable the company to gradually resume operations at its individual rolling mills without having to purchase the necessary materials itself. This was reported by News.ro.

Under the contracts, the partners will supply semi-finished steel products to the plant, and Liberty Galați will process them for a fee. This will allow the rolling mills to be gradually brought into operation for the production of heavy plate, hot-rolled coils and coated sheet, without the need to finance the purchase of raw materials independently.

The signed agreements represent the first step towards resuming operations, retaining the workforce and ensuring the plant’s industrial sustainability. Production volumes, start dates and the duration of the contracts have not yet been officially disclosed. Currently, around 2,400 of the plant’s employees are working a reduced four-day week.

Despite the conclusion of these agreements, the overall situation at the plant remains challenging: Liberty Galați is undergoing preventive restructuring due to a liquidity shortfall. Two attempts to sell the plant at auction proved unsuccessful, even after the asking price was reduced from €709 million to €463 million.

At the same time, five companies have expressed interest in purchasing the asset and have acquired the technical documentation: Romania’s UMB Steel, Ukraine’s Metinvest, Greece’s Sidenor Steel, and India’s JSW Steel and Jindal Steel (representatives of the latter have already visited the site). However, no binding agreement on the sale of the steelworks has yet been reached.

As reported by GMK Center, the Liberty Galați steelworks failed to find a buyer at the second international auction held on 19 June. Although five companies obtained the technical specifications, none provided the necessary letters of guarantee.