site.btaBulgarian Metallurgy Not Expected to Stop Work Due to High Electricity Prices for Businesses, Says Industry CEO

There is no way in the current situation that the Bulgarian metallurgy industry can stop work because of high electricity prices for business, because technologically it is complicated and leads to even higher costs, Politimi Paunova, Executive Director of the Bulgarian Association of the Metallurgical Industry (BAMI), said in an interview with BTA. For liquidation to happen, it must be provoked by previous problems - lack of markets, lack of competitiveness, it is unlikely to happen from a temporary increase in the price of electricity, the expert said.

Paunova pointed out that it is very difficult to decommission a smelter because it will lead to very high costs when it is restarted, and therefore metallurgical companies may reduce their production in order to reduce electricity consumption with the resulting financial losses. She recalled that there was a temporary shutdown of production in 2022 during a period of soaring electricity prices.

Paunova pointed out that in Bulgaria the price of electricity for energy-intensive industries is higher than for the industry in other countries and reminded that there are no long-term contracts with differentiated prices, which in the long run will affect the competitiveness of Bulgaria's industry.

In metallurgy, gas and electricity consumption is almost equally divided, with higher consumption of natural gas in ferrous metal production and electricity in non-ferrous metallurgy due to zinc and copper refining, the expert said.

About 1,800 people are employed in Bulgaria's two steel mills, while the ferrous metallurgy sector, including small enterprises, employs about 4,000 people.