OneSteel said it had reduced operating levels at all of its major facilities, most notably at Whyalla, where blast furnace operations have been "reduced to the bottom of the normal operating range".

The company did not answer questions related to staff cuts and streamlining of operations saying the only comments were the ones made public through media releases.

In an ASX release, company managing director Geoff Plummer, announced that OneSteel has made good progress in renewing its 2009 maturing debt facilities.

"We have refinanced 92 per cent, or $458 million, of $500 million in bi-lateral and syndicated loan facilities which were due to mature in the 2009 calendar year," Mr Plummer said.

"Bi-lateral loans maturing in 2009 were a $100 million loan facility due in May and two facilities of $50 million each, due in June and August.

"These have been replaced with a $150 million bilateral loan facility due September 2011 and two $50 million bilateral loan facilities due in December 2011."

The company also advised it has extended adjustments to its steel-making production levels due to the impact of deteriorating global financial and economic conditions on sales, particularly in November and December.

"As market conditions worsened late in the first half, we saw lower sales levels than expected, resulting in higher inventories.

"We therefore took prudent action to reduce our operating levels, particularly steel-making production, to bring operating and inventory levels in line with demand," Mr Plummer said.

"The reduction of operating levels has been for all major facilities.

"Most notably at Whyalla where blast furnace operations have been reduced to the bottom of the normal operating range and the major electric arc furnaces (EAFs) at Laverton and Sydney where we expect the production cuts for the EAFs will reduce steel-make by approximately 300 kilotons over the period to the end of February 2009," Mr Plummer said.