Bosnian steel producer ArcelorMittal Zenica said on Wednesday it had to halt production temporarily because of decreased demand due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“It is indisputable that Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with many European countries, is facing a recession, and the economic decline is at least 3.5%. We are already witnessing the closure of many companies, lost jobs and declining production and services caused by drastically reduced demand for nearly all kinds of goods,” the company said.

“As an industry that is highly export-oriented in Balkan countries, we are facing a situation where almost all infrastructure projects and construction works have been stopped or minimized, which seriously affects our sustainability,” it said.

The company said it did all it could to protect its workers as well as its business – 500 employees worked either from home or were on standby without their salaries decreased and management tried to cut costs wherever it could and tried to negotiate better deals with suppliers and public utility companies.

“Unfortunately, all the measures we introduced to save money were not sufficient to secure continued production, especially having in mind that no signals are saying that such low demand will not decrease even more in the next few months,” it said.