ArcelorMittal Skopje has presented its new €3.5m galvanizing furnace to its partners, as part of the company’s 2012 Customer Day. The event, on October 4, gave customers the opportunity to see the state-of-the-art annealing technology that has been installed to galvanize steel sheets.

"ArcelorMittal Skopje continues to invest in state-of-the-art technology to ensure the company delivers the best quality products, on time, in line with the demands of our customers and meeting health, safety and environmental regulations" said Juan Pedro Jimenez Navarro, CEO ArcelorMittal Skopje.

The new furnace is more environmentally friendly – the plant’s CO emissions have been reduced by 98%, while natural gas consumption has been cut by 35% (which also reduced CO2 emissions) - and will also allow the company to increase the services, quality and production available to customers.

The investment forms a major part of the development plan for ArcelorMittal Skopje - which ranks in the top 10 of Macedonia’s biggest companies - and is part of the group’s development strategy for the region and for Europe.

ArcelorMittal Skopje has more than 550 employees and through its 400 dealers has sales of €88m. The plant the capacity to produce more than 200,00 tonnes a year of cold rolled coil, organic coated and hot dip galvanized products, serving markets including: Albania; Bosnia & Herzegovina; Bulgaria; Croatia; Greece; Kosovo; Romania; Serbia and Slovenia.