OFZ not doing well and considering new plants in Azerbaijan and Egypt
Ferroalloy producer OFZ (Vladimír Klocok) reported a drop in sales from €150m to €50m last year and its losses shot up from €2m to €10m amid falling demand and high energy prices. It still operates only one of seven furnaces and would need a significant drop in power prices to increase production. Due to legal complications, its plan to move part of its production to Uzbekistan, where electricity is cheaper, failed. It has reduced the number of employees from 300 to 130. It is possible that the new government will help the company with higher subsidies from the Environmental Fund. (dennikN.sk)
OFZ continues to negotiate a production transfer with two other countries (reportedly Azerbaijan and Egypt). In both cases, it would be a €70-100m investment in a new factory in a country that offers energy-intensive industries long-term energy supply contracts at attractive prices.
