Press Releases
Press Releases of ThyssenKrupp Steel AG

• Premier Jürgen Rüttgers visits new steel mill being built by ThyssenKrupp Steel in Brazil: “Important investment will also strengthen North Rhine-Westphalia as an industrial center” [Daily press, 30.10.2008]
  In Santa Cruz ThyssenKrupp Steel is building an integrated steel mill with an annual capacity of 5 million metric tons of slabs. During his visit, the Premier was also updated on the company’s strategy. With its business model focused on premium flat-rolled carbon steel ThyssenKrupp Steel is well positioned in its core European market. In recent years the portfolio has been systematically concentrated on high value-added products.
  
  Dr. Karl-Ulrich Köhler, member of the Executive Board of ThyssenKrupp AG and CEO of ThyssenKrupp Steel AG, explained that in the medium term ThyssenKrupp Steel aims to increase its deliveries from currently 14 million tons to 20 million tons with a global growth strategy. This strategy is based on long-term forecasts for the premium flat-rolled carbon steel market, which is growing at an above-average rate of 6% per year. Almost half of consumption is focused in the volume markets of Europe and North America. “To strengthen our market position in these regions, we will be investing over €7 billion in the coming years,” said Dr. Köhler.
  
  Of central importance to the implementation of the growth plans is the steel mill now being built in Brazil at a capital cost of around €4.5 billion. Following the ramp-up of the facilities from the end of 2009 the new mill will produce around 5 million tons of slabs to high quality standards and with an optimal cost position. 3 million tons of the slabs will be supplied to the new processing plant near Mobile in Alabama, which is likewise under construction and is due to start operation in 2010. It is being built in conjunction with sister segment Stainless. The total investment is €3.1 billion, of which ThyssenKrupp Steel’s share is €2.3 billion.
  
  The additional crude steel capacity in Brazil will also benefit the company’s highly efficient plants in Germany – mainly in North Rhine-Westphalia. To allow processing of 2 million tons of slabs from Brazil we are investing €400 million in the expansion of our processing and coating capacities. A large part of the investment is focused on our hot strip mills in Duisburg and Bochum. Individual sub-projects to increase the capacity of existing hot-dip coating lines have already been completed. At the same time we are expanding our infrastructure and slab logistics facilities at the Duisburg-Walsum terminal. The ramp-up of the facilities will remove bottlenecks and allow us to serve key customers in Europe better than before. The extra volumes are covered in full by notified demand from regular customers.
  
  Another milestone in our plans for the future is the start-up of the new blast furnace 8 in Duisburg, which was blown-in on December 8, 2007. The new furnace is part of a larger modernization program which also includes the relining of neighboring blast furnace 9. In total, €340 million is being invested in the blast furnace program, which will ensure that Duisburg remains one of the most efficient steelmaking locations in the world. It will also secure 1,200 jobs directly and another 3,600 indirectly.
• ThyssenKrupp performed very successfully in 2007/2008 [Daily press, 04.10.2008]
  Dr. Karl-Ulrich Köhler, Executive Board Member of ThyssenKrupp AG and Executive Board Chairman of ThyssenKrupp Steel AG, confirmed the earnings forecast for ThyssenKrupp AG, which had been raised in August. At the annual conference of the International Iron and Steel Institute (IISI) in Washington he said: “We are expecting sales in the region of €53 billion and earnings before taxes and nonrecurring items of more than €3.2 billion in fiscal year 2007/2008.”
  
  The Steel segment, which is focused on premium carbon steel flat products, performed very successfully in a robust market environment, but will not match the record earnings of 2006/2007. The reasons for this lie in pre-operating costs for the major projects in Brazil and the USA and restructuring expenses at the metal forming operations.
  
  “Demand for our products was exceptionally high. Although our production units were fully utilized we were unable to meet customer requirements in full for capacity reasons,” said Dr. Köhler. At more than 14.2 million tons, crude steel production at ThyssenKrupp Steel was slightly lower than the year before due to the relining of Schwelgern 1 blast furnace in the first quarter of 2008. However, the output of the ThyssenKrupp Steel meltshops increased slightly thanks to a number of optimization measures, including more intensive scrap use. Slabs again had to be bought in to ensure maximum utilization of hot-rolled capacities.
  
  Despite the weaker global economy, the situation on the international steel markets 2008 was marked by continuing growth and full capacity utilization. The first half of the calendar year in particular was characterized by brisk global demand which came up against supply shortages in some cases. This trend was accompanied by steel price increases, albeit with significant regional differences. The highest price rises were in Asia, the lowest in Europe.
  
  The price corrections were necessary as a result of the drastic rise in raw material and energy costs, which reached a level never previously registered. “The significant price increases for raw materials, which pushed the share of raw material costs in production costs per ton of hot-rolled strip to over 70 percent, coupled with the energy price rises created unforeseeable costs for us of more than €1 billion,” said Dr. Köhler. The cost increases could partially offset by positive earnings effects from ongoing efficiency programs and additional cost-reduction programs.
  
  ThyssenKrupp Steel is confident about its prospects in the current fiscal year 2008/2009. This optimism is based on the fact that the forecasts for the global steel market remain favorable. Demand in particular from Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and the CIS will continue to grow at an above-average rate in the next few years and significantly impact the global market. In Europe, the NAFTA region and Japan, steel market growth will be more moderate given the deterioration in the general economic outlook. “Raw material prices have eased to a certain extent recently, but it remains to be seen how long this will last,” said Dr. Köhler.
• ThyssenKrupp Steel: 30 million euros to reduce particulates [Daily press, 24.09.2008]
  ThyssenKrupp Steel is investing an additional 30 million euros to reduce particulate pollution in the north of Duisburg. By mid-2011 Germany's biggest steelmaker is to equip its sinter plant in Duisburg-Schwelgern with additional filters to capture particulates and dust-containing off-gases. The company is thus doing its bit to ensure that European Union emissions standards are met in the north of Duisburg.
  
  In the past ThyssenKrupp has made its contribution to improving air quality with a total of 41 measures. Their success is confirmed by measurements by the state environmental authority: Particulate pollution in the north of Duisburg has decreased by more than 20 percent since 2002, whereas in heavy traffic areas for example it has remained virtually constant.
  
  ThyssenKrupp Steel accounts for around 20 percent of the particulate pollution in the north of Duisburg. This was shown by an investigation program carried out jointly with the Ministry for Environment and Nature Conservation, Agriculture and Consumer Protection of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Other results of the two-year investigation: 60 percent of the particulate matter recorded at the measuring points in Duisburg-Marxloh and Duisburg-Bruckhausen is carried in by the wind from surrounding and more distant areas, while another 20 percent comes from traffic and domestic fuel combustion. Domestic fuel burning includes the coal stoves still used to heat an above-average number of homes in the north of Duisburg.
  
  The 30 million euro investment in the sinter plant will further reduce the company's share of the particulate emissions. Sinter plants convert fine ore into a coarse-grained material suitable for charging in the blast furnace. The plant at ThyssenKrupp Steel produces around twelve million tons of sinter per year. It already has filters with a total surface area of 150,000 square meters which clean approximately a hundred billion cubic meters of gas per year, with the captured iron-bearing dusts being cycled back to the sinter plant.
  
  To improve control of particulate emissions still further, among other things ThyssenKrupp Steel will be installing an additional fabric filter downstream of the existing electrostatic gas cleaners. In addition, new high-voltage electrostatic precipitators are to be used to separate pa
  
  rticulates inside the sinter belt areas. At the same time, further particulate sources will be connected to the improved dust collection systems. This action by ThyssenKrupp Steel goes beyond the measures reco