Even though energy prices have slightly subsided, ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, is shutting down two plants and idling another.
In a statement, ArcelorMittal indicated that the two plants being "partially closed" are located in the German cities of Bremen and Hamburg. The one being idled is located in Asturias, Spain.
"Weak market demand and a negative economic outlook," the company says, drove the decision, as did "the exorbitant rise in energy prices" that is having a devastating impact on ArcelorMittal's "competitiveness in steel production."
The looming threat of hyperinflation across not only Germany but the entire world that lives within the confines of central banking and fiat currency is another factor. (Related: European agriculture is also on the chopping block, supposedly due to drought.)
"As an energy-intensive industry, we are extremely affected," announced ArcelorMittal Germany CEO Reiner Blaschek. "With gas and electricity prices increasing tenfold within just a few months, we are no longer competitive in a market that is 25% supplied by imports."
Blaschek called on the German government to take action to rein in energy prices and get them "under control immediately," otherwise a cascade of company failures will ensue.
One in six industrial companies in Germany now having to reduce production due to hyperinflating energy costs
It turns out that ArcelorMittal is not alone in having to curb or completely shut down production amid record-high energy costs that, aside from a few random price dips, continue to soar.
OilPrice.com's Tsvetana Paraskova wrote a piece explaining that one out of every six industrial companies in Germany is now having to take similar action to ArcelorMittal.
This is according to the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), which conducted a survey at the end of July about the state of business in Europe's economic powerhouse.
At the turn of August, some 25 percent of Germany companies had already scaled back production to some degree. Another 25 percent, for a total of 50 percent, are in the process of following suit.
Energy-intensive industries and firms are, as you might expect, being hit the hardest. Some 32 percent of them are having to slow down or completely shutter production lines, according to DIHK.
Meanwhile, Russian energy giant Gazprom has announced that natural gas supplies through the Nord Stream 1 (NS1) pipeline will not be resumed to critical levels after an "oil leak" was detected along its infrastructure. There was no timeframe given for when supplies will resume.
What this means is that Europe faces even more energy shortages and higher energy prices in the coming days, weeks, and months as the West descends into the "dark winter" that Joe Biden ominously warned was coming.
The domino effect of lower energy supplies coupled with increasingly higher prices is the total takedown of the German and European economies. And do not think for a second that the United States is somehow exempt from that takedown.
"During WWII, Brits starved to death over 30 million people in India," wrote a commenter at Zero Hedge about what is coming. "This time it will be billions."
"Germany is closing its steel plants while sending all of its steel weapons to be blown up in Ukraine – nice work!" wrote another.
Someone else wrote that it is highly suspicious that many horrible things are happening all at once, including the shutdown of the German economy, the loss of energy to Europe, grid failures in the United States, food shortages everywhere, and persistent supply chain problems the world over – among many other contributors to the coming perfect storm.
As the global economy fails on purpose, we will keep you informed about the latest developments at Collapse.news.
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