🇸🇪 Steelmaker SSAB flags possible staff cuts in Finland as demand falls

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Swedish steel maker SSAB will launch talks with trade unions to adjust its workforce further in Finland due to continued weak demand, it said on Monday.

SSAB said the aim of the measures at its Raahe steel plant was to cut costs by at least 10 million euros ($10.6 million)annually and the negotiations affect around 2,400 of its around 4,700 employees in Finland.

“The aim is to work together to find solutions to increase flexibility, mobility and multi-skills so that our operations respond more flexibly than at present to future needs,” it said in a statement.

“Unless agreement is reached on the primary operations models pursued, the negotiations could result in workforce reductions.”

Last month SSAB temporarily laid off staff at two other units in Finland that make paint-coated steel products, pointing to weak demand from builders.

SSAB, whose profit halved in the second quarter as demand slowed in Europe and steel prices fell, had 15,000 employees at the end of 2022, three quarters of them in Sweden and Finland, according to its annual report.

Shares in the group were down 2% at 0938 GMT, taking a fall over the past three months to 25%.

($1 = 0.9410 euros)

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom, editing by Terje Solsvik and Louise Heavens)