BUSINESS

We Will Build a New Steel Shop

Regardless of the Steel Crisis

Pascal Genest, CEO and Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Liberty Ostrava steelworks

since December 2019, studied polytechnics (specializing in mathematics and science), is a  civil

engineer and holds an MBA. He has worked in the steel industry in various countries of the

world for fourteen years and has been a decision-maker at many steelworks, being responsible for

strategic development and the transformation of businesses. He was previously CEO at a leading

steelwork company in the Middle East. He also has professional experience in the aluminium

industry and private investments.

on imported natural resources, lower CO2 emissions and

enable greater flexibility by allowing us to switch or blend

blast furnace and electric arc furnace steel-making. We are

working hard to expedite and commission both furnaces

by the end of 2022. The new steel shop investment will be

accompanied by a major modernisation of the steel rolling

mills to improve the quality of our products and increase our

proportion of high added value products which are sought

after in our natural markets.

Last year you took over the management of one of the most

important companies in the region. What is your vision for

the development of the company?

I want to make the Ostrava steelworks as competitive and

efficient as possible. The investment of the past years mainly

focused on reducing the environmental footprint with stateof-the-art technologies that have made the company one

of the top performers in Europe in terms of environment.

However, as far as the existing steelmaking manufacturing

technologies are concerned, our technology has become

inefficient. Therefore, as part of the strategic investment plan

we announced in February, we have selected technologies

that will improve that and will build a new steel shop based

around two hybrid furnaces, which will enable us to utilise

higher volumes of local steel scrap to reduce our reliance

Your company invests in innovation and ecology. Will this

continue to be the case and will you also cooperate with

universities in the region?

We remain ambitious for the future of the Ostrava steelworks

in spite of the difficulties the global steelmaking market has

been facing lately due to lower demand, falling prices, unfair

cheap imports due to the very weak protection of the EU

market and the recent COVID-19 lockdown measures. We

look forward to serving our regional Central European steel

market, working closely with our dedicated employees,

as well as the Government, Trade Unions, and other

stakeholders to deliver our ambitious plan for the plant’s

long-term sustainability, aligned to our GREENSTEEL and

carbon neutrality 2030 visions. The strategic investments in

the new steelmaking technology and rolling mills is expected

to reach €750 million over the next ten years, with a major

part of that being invested in the next five years.

We have been a strong, long-term supporter of technical

education in this region as we want to foster future

generations of steel workers. We have also worked for

many years with the VSB – Technical university of Ostrava

in research and development areas, which will now also

include developing technologies and innovations associated

with methanol production and CO2 capture and cleaning.

We know about you that one of your first trips to relax led

to the Jeseníky Mountains. What is your relationship to

the nature, mountains and sports? 

I believe that the work-and-life balance is important to our

lives. I like to spend my free time outdoors, playing sports

like tennis in the summer or skiing in winter. Due to the

lockdown I have had the opportunity to discover much of

the beautiful countryside in the Moravian-Silesian Region.

Ostrava and its surroundings offer many opportunities for

sports and mountain tourism, which I have thoroughly

enjoyed.

Thank you for the interview.

Otázky připravil:

Vít Ruprich

Foto:

archiv

LIBERTY

Ostrava a.s.

www.

libertyostrava.cz

POSITIV 2/2020 ǀ 31