Annexes to COM(2002)248 - Monitoring of Article 95 ECSC Steel aid cases, Seventeenth Report, May 2002 - Main contents
Please note
This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2002)248 - Monitoring of Article 95 ECSC Steel aid cases, Seventeenth Report, May 2002. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2002)248  |
| date | May 27, 2002 |
In 2001, PTE 732.6 million in social aid authorised under Article 4 of the Sixth Steel Aid Code was disbursed.
2.4. Sales
Following the closure of its blast furnace, SN Serviços did not produce or sell any billets in the second half of 2001.
2.5. Financial performance
The Portuguese authorities provided a full set of financial data and financial ratios in line with the Annex to the Commission's Decision.
According to the Portuguese authorities, the losses of SN Serviços' were chiefly due to the high level of depreciation costs and provisions.
The closure of the blast furnace also resulted in an extraordinary charge owing to the inclusion in the accounts of the total compensation paid in respect of termination of the employment contracts of workers to be laid off from April 2001 onwards.
SN Serviços
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2.6. Aid
The aid authorised under Article 95 of the ECSC Treaty has been paid in six instalments between March 1994 and June 1995 as explained in the fourth monitoring report. Environmental aid approved under Article 3 of the Fifth Steel Aid Code amounting to EUR 3 740 984 was paid in 2001. The use of the social aid approved under Article 4(1) of the Fifth, respectively the Sixth Steel Aid Code is explained above under 2.3 (financing of redundancies).
3. Voest Alpine Erzberg GmbH, Austria
3.1. Introduction
On 29 November 1995 the Commission approved [6] State aid to Voest Alpine Erzberg GmbH (VAEG) to enable it to close down its mining operations gradually up to the year 2002. Approved aid amounts to ATS 272 million to cover operating losses over the period 1995-2002 and ATS 136 million [7] to cover the costs of closing down mines safely and in an environmentally friendly manner.
[6] OJ L 94, 16.4.1996, p. 17.
[7] 1 EUR = ATS 13,7603. ATS 272 million = 19,76 million EUR; ATS 136 million = 9,88 million EUR.
Authorisation of the aid was subject inter alia to the following conditions:
-the annual aid ceilings and the production ceiling as given in the table above were not to be exceeded (so far observed),
-the amount of operating aid was not to exceed the difference between production costs and revenues (so far observed),
-the price charged for iron ore was to be in line with market prices and was not to be lower than the price of imported iron ore (so far observed).
3.2. Production and sales
In 2001 VAEG produced 980 000 tonnes of iron ore with an average content of 33.6% Fe and 902 000 tonnes of low grade products which its only client, voestalpine Stahl GmbH (VSG), can use for the blast furnace burden (Möllerzusatzmaterial). The company has therefore respected the authorised ceiling for 2001 [8].
[8] Cf. 16th Report point 5.2.2.1.
The standard-grade iron ore was sold at EUR 10.14 per tonne. This standard price had been set in November 2000 for the whole of 2001.
The low-grade material (Möllerzusatzmaterial) was sold at EUR 6.03 per tonne, fixed on the basis of the market price for lime gravel (Kalkschotter).
The average price for deliveries of iron ore and low-grade material (Möllerzusatzmaterial) results in EUR 7.92 per tonne. Including the costs of transport to VSG/Linz, the price charged was EUR 53.01 per tonne Fe.
The above price per tonne Fe for iron ore is higher than the comparable price for imported iron ore. It may therefore be concluded that the prices charged in 2001 were not lower than required under Article 2 of the Commission's Decision of 29 November 1995.
A detailed overview of production, production costs, sales, prices and losses is given in the Annex.
3.3. Aid payments in relation to aid authorised
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* For details on the period 1995 - 2000 see previous Reports
3.4. Evolution of workforce
The plan for reducing the workforce is as follows:
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Departing from the original plan the total workforce was reduced to 183 by 31st December 2001. Reduction of workforce is therefore ahead of plan.
ANNEX
Comparison of production costs and revenues, 2001
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