PETER BRUCE: Closure of Amsa Newcastle should come as no surprise

Steel was to have rebuilt SA, but profound policy failure fuelled by hubris has led to the direct loss of 3,500 jobs

09 January 2025 – 05:00

by PETER BRUCE

You’d think, from all the outrage, that ArcelorMittal SA’s (Amsa’s) decision to shut down its long-products division was a surprise.

But Amsa CEO Kobus Verster has been trying to shut down his loss-making reinforcing bars, beams, rails and profiles business for years. Only last November, he told workers at the Newcastle plant there was no way to avoid closure. It would begin in January, sparing workers an even more bleak Christmas…

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