The Sault Star reported that the global economic crisis downgraded a potentially unprecedented year of economic-operational performance into a memorable one for Essar Steel Algoma Inc.

Essar Steel, despite a USD 18 million loss over the final 6 months of fiscal 2008-2009, still generated a USD 217 million profit for the full fiscal year, the corporation's fourth best economic performance in its 107 year history.

Mr Armando Plastino CEO of Essar Algoma said that "We prospered through the first half of the fiscal year on the strength of extremely high pricing and unprecedented production volume. We took a forward view, as did the rest of the industry that North American consumption would continue to grow. We prepared a second operational blast furnace number 6 and began ramping-up assets that had not been fully utilized."

He added that "Virtually without warning, beginning in late September, pricing went into rapid decline, approached unprecedented lows, and it became difficult to secure orders, the automotive industry was in crisis and financial credit disappeared."

Mr Jatinder Mehra CEO of Essar Steel Holdings Limited, parent company of Essar Algoma, told local media in the spring that he was doubtful the local mill's production level would return to pre crisis levels in 2009.

(Sourced form www.saultstar.com)