Fin24 reports that the largest steel company in Africa, announced the “large-scale employee reorganisation” in July 2019. In a statement released by the multinational steel manufacturing corporation – which has been operating in South Africa since 1989 – on Thursday afternoon, Arcelormittal said it had experienced a challenging year and an “intense focus was placed on cash preservation”.

“A large-scale employee reorganisation, as announced on SENS on 10 July 2019, has been largely finalised and resulted in a reduction of over a thousand own employees. Additionally, a significant repricing and rescoping of sub-contractor services will be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2020,” it said.

The restructuring is in line with the company’s long-term sustainability programme, it said. The earliest plan on the agenda was the closing down of Saldanha Works, an export-focused plant in Cape Town. The process is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2020.