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"We had an agreement with Tolmets, we also had a couple of wagons from Ukraine, however, no one could have predicted such a price hike in two weeks. Agreements with Tolmets stipulate that the said company will be the only one in Baltics that will sell to us. The moment prices in Turkey went up, they found it more beneficial to sell abroad. That was probably our mistake - to sign an agreement with only one supplier, but we had no other options at the time," explained Krishtal.

He said that if the metal scrap price reduces to an acceptable level - about EUR 200 per ton, the next launch of the steel melting facility will be carried following a slightly different model. At first, the company plans on acquiring a suitable amount of scrap metal - at least 80,000 tons - with supply agreements for the coming months in order to ensure materials for at least a couple of months.

"We have no limits regarding scrap metal procurements, and we can sign agreements with any supplier. We predict that we will be able to buy about 30,000 tons also without Tolmets. Of course, price reduction will play an important role here, and it will happen when Turkey becomes saturated with scrap metal," said Krishtal.

As reported, KVV Liepajas metalurgs has been forced to cut its production volumes at the plant's steel melting facility, as the company claims that costs are preventing it from competing with similar metallurgical companies in other countries. It was also said that the company is laying off 15 percent of its staff.

At the beginning of May, 960 people had a job at KVV Liepajas metalurgs. However, by the end of May, the company's board announced that KVV Liepajas metalurgs would keep about 300 employees.