Press release
Ljubljana, Thursday, 24 March 2022 – With consideration to the situation on the global markets, declining demand and the recent years’ negative performance of SIJ Elektrode Jesenice, d.o.o., the Management Board of SIJ d.d. has decided to recommend to the Supervisory Board that the company be liquidated. The motion for voluntary liquidation of the company was carried at the Supervisory Board session of 23 March 2022.
The company SIJ Elektrode Jesenice produces welding wires and electrodes, which are seeing decreased use and therefore reduced demand in the company’s largest export markets, which comprise EU Member States and ex-Yugoslav states. Over the past eight years, the use of electrodes in Europe has declined by nearly 19 percent. At the same time, there is a sharp increase in demand for these products in the Asian markets. As a result, production quantities in the region have increased over recent years, and ownership of the largest producers there has become concentrated, allowing them to provide more competitive prices and auxiliary services for the welding industry.
Considering the conditions on the market, SIJ Group has decided to discontinue this segment of operations and intensify its focus on its core business of steel production and manufacturing. We expect SIJ Elektrode Jesenice to continue production until mid-April in order to finish its outstanding orders. The company will honour its obligations as they fall due, and all stakeholders are expected to be compensated by the end of the year.
SIJ Elektrode Jesenice has been reporting losses for the past five years. Having carefully considered all options for the company’s future, SIJ Group decided to present a motion for voluntary liquidation. SIJ Group puts its employees first and this business decision is no exception. Most of the employees will be offered reassignments to sister companies in Jesenice. After coordinating the motion with the trade unions representatives, approximately 100 employees will be offered reassignments to new positions within the companies SIJ Acroni and SIJ SUZ, while others will be offered equitable severance packages and given professional termination-of-employment guidance in collaboration with the Employment Service of Slovenia.
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SIJ Group is Slovenia’s largest vertically integrated metallurgy group which incorporates circular economy principles in its operations, allowing its products to maintain leading market positions in European and global niche steel markets. SIJ Group is among Slovenia’s top exporters and is considered a key employer in the Gorenjska and Koroška regions.
Find out more at:
SIJ – Slovenska industrija jekla, d.d.
Katja Krumpak, Head of Corporate Communications
Corporate Communications
Phone: +386 1 242 98 59
Mobile: +386 41 814 041
E-mail: katja.krumpak@sij.si