Trade with Greece
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dropped by 70% in the past three-years. Such a
prospect is initially translated into an improve-
ment of the fundamentals of three large steel
industries (Halyvourgiki, Sidenor, Hellenic
Halyvourgia). The same applies to the cement
industry (AGET, Titan, Halyps).
The problems
However, these two key sectors, cement and
steel, continue to face severe problems, as
domestic demand has fallen back to 1960s levels!
As a result of this steep drop in demand, more
than half of the Greek steel industry’s capacity is
currently idle. The facts are alarming and show
that, following a (sold-out) output of 2.1 million
tons in 2007, in 2012 the domestic market closed
at a mere 350 thousand tons, with the companies
resorting to loss-making exports (800 thousand
tons). As shown by the results of the publicly-listed
Sidenor (Viohalco) Group, the situation has
become even direr, because of the Greek crisis
that caused financing costs to soar. Thus, by
resorting to, by all means, unprofitable exports
(with the only aim of keeping production lines run-
ning) the group sustained substantial losses
(operating losses stood at €10.7 million, while
financial expenses raised the cost to €12.8 mil-
lion). Since the summer of 2012, Halyvourgiki has
chosen to reduce its output to a minimum, while
Hellenic Halyvourgia (Manessis group) is, in
effect, running only its Volos factory. Sidenor has
also reduced its output since July. Reportedly,
under the current circumstances, the excess
capacity of Greece’s steel industries stands at
54%, or 1.35 million tons, out of a total capacity of
2.5 million tons. It is worth noting that, according
to industry estimates, the forecasts for the year
2013 are even bleaker.
Cement
Greece’s three largest cement industries are try-
ing to cope with a market whose size has shrunk
to 1960s levels. In 2012, domestic sales were
expected to reach 2.5 to 2.8 million tons, with
exports varying from 4.5 to 5.5 million tons. With
a total capacity of approximately 16 million tons,
the cement industry actually operated at 43.7% to
51.8% in 2012, in other words more than half of
its production capacity remained idle. It is worth
noting that in 2006 domestic demand stood at
