Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus will cut production in the third quarter by 160,000 tpm, up from the second quarter's 70,000 tpm. Arcelor has also cut production for the third quarter, but would not say by how much. Corus's production cut for the third quarter is "quite significant", Philippe Varin, chief executive of Corus, told MB. He said the cuts from Arcelor and from the other steel producers that have already announced third-quarter production cuts are unprecedented. This is totally new behaviour tor this industry," Varin told MB. Corus hopes the European market will follow the North American market, where stock levels are slowly returning to normal levels. Chairman Jim Leng told shareholders at the company's agm on June 16 that the steel producer expects stock levels to normalise towards the end of the year. The company is continuing to look at low-cost/high-growth countries in which to grow Leng told shareholders one of these countries is Turkey, where Corus is interested in acquiring a stake in Turkish flat steelmaker Erdemir. "We have expressed an interest, but it is incredibly early days," he said.
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