Amurmetall intends to resume production July 8 - governor
KOMSOMOLSK-ON-AMUR. July 5 (Interfax) - OJSC Amurmetall, the only steel plant in Russia's Far East, intends to resume production, which it suspended a month ago, on July 8, Acting Governor of the Khabarovsk territory Vyacheslav Shport told Interfax.
"Yesterday there was a working meeting at Amurmetall. They looked into how else the territory can help. They'll start working on Monday, the workers are being recalled from their forced leave," the acting governor told Interfax during a break at the Far Eastern Engineers Congress.
"We enacted the proposals in the protocols of the meeting at the Russian governmental level. We're freeing the metallurgists of 900 million plus rubles - a billion - in payments [on various types of taxes]. They'll be able to put these funds to work, they'll have working capital," Shport said.
Once the enterprise is back to work, the Khabarovsk territory hopes to get these funds back in the form of profit taxes, he said.
"A number of questions remain for the federal services. The task that needs to be completed now is for the managing company and bank [Vnesheconombank (VEB)] to fulfill their items to the end. Yesterday a telegram was sent to VEB's management. Another meeting should be held in the near future," the acting governor said.
At this point, Amurmetall is already approximately 30 billion rubles in debt. A strategic investor might be the key way out of its difficult position. Uralvagonzavod (UVZ) and TMK have expressed interest in managing the factory, Shport said.
As reported, due to its low workload, Amurmetall's operating losses in the first four months of 2013 totaled 496 million rubles. In light of the depletion of its own working capital and the absence of credit, Amurmetall stopped production in its key production divisions on June 6-10. The plant now has 3,927 employees, 786 of which have been put on forced leave and another 1,070 are on leave with three-quarters pay.
Amurmetall, which produces long and flat steel products, operates on scrap metal. The Khabarovsk Arbitration Court put the plant under supervision on August 30, 2012.
VEB acquired 100% of Amurmetall Holding in April 2010 and thereby gained control of Amurmetall, among other companies. Amurmetall's former owners received rights to buy back shares from VEB.