U.S. Steel Košice made a loss of €78m in 2019 according to its annual statement, a considerable disappointment after recording profits of €89m in 2018 and €448m in 2017. The company wrote that the loss was due to falling demand for steel products and a decline in output from the manufacturing sector in the European Union. The pandemic of 2020 is unlikely to have improved matters for the company, which announced last July that it would be reducing its workforce by 2,500 employees over a period of three years. The company’s president James Bruno complained that Europe is importing huge volumes of steel from countries whose producers receive massive subsidies and who don’t have to adhere to strict environmental guidelines. “We have clear plans, we have determination, and we just need all steel producers competing with the same rules,” he wrote.
