Duisburg/Frankfurt (dpa/lnw) - According to IG Metall, the planned conversion to climate-neutral steel production at Hüttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann (HKM) in Duisburg is at risk of failing due to financing. "That would be the end of Germany's second largest steel works," reported the union on Thursday in Frankfurt am Main. Thousands of jobs are at risk. According to IG Metall, 3,100 people work in the plant.
The union called on the company's shareholders to commit to the future of the steel mill and to invest in its conversion. The "Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung" (WAZ, Thursday) had previously reported on it.
Among other things, the steelworks operates two blast furnaces. Shareholders are Thyssenkrupp (50 percent), Salzgitter (30 percent) and Vallourec (20 percent). The purpose of the company is the production of crude steel for further processing by the shareholders.
Under the keyword "decarbonization" HKM describes its plans for the replacement of the two blast furnaces in the years 2025 to 2045 with two so-called direct reduction plants on its homepage. In these plants, more and more hydrogen produced in a climate-neutral manner will gradually be used.
Thyssenkrupp also wants to replace its four blast furnaces in Duisburg with such plants in the coming decades. Thyssenkrupp expects investment costs of more than two billion euros for the first plant.
"In almost all steel companies along the blast furnace route, the transformation towards green steel production has now been initiated with concrete investment decisions," said IG Metall board member Jürgen Kerner. A concrete concept is also on the table for HKM. What is missing is the financing commitment from the shareholders. "But it must not be that the transformation of the company fails because of their hesitation and procrastination."
According to IG Metall, Vallourec wants to give up its 20 percent stake in HKM. Against this background, the two remaining shareholders would struggle to find a solution for the future of HKM.
