ANDERS ULLBERG AT SSAB’S GENERAL MEETING
24 April 2003 - SSAB

Consolidation in Western Europe
'During the past decade, the steel industry in Europe has been characterised by a major trend towards consolidation which has transformed the face of the industry. In Western Europe, the world’s largest steel company, Arcelor, has been created, along with three other large steel companies, namely Thyssen Krupp, Riva, and Corus. On the other hand, SSAB, Voest Alpine, Salzgitter, and Rautaruukki have developed primarily through organic growth.'

'Let me first of all say that I do not believe that there exists any single way to successfully develop a steel company. Naturally, the large steel companies enjoy certain economies of scale in their production. However, the steel market is not homogenous. There are a number of smaller sub-markets – niches – which the large producers, with their bulk-oriented focus, find it difficult to cover.'

SSAB Chose Niche Orientation
'Over ten years ago, we deliberately decided to develop SSAB into a niche-oriented company and we chose to specialise in high-strength materials, namely quenched steels in the plate area as well as high-strength sheet products. During the past decade, deliveries of our niche products have increased on an average by 12% per year.'

'Following the investments which we carried out at the end of the 1990s in order to increase capacity for our niche products, we are now focusing on the market in order to be able to continue to grow and thereby utilise the capacity we have developed. We must be able to grow both organically as well as on new markets and with new products.'

'With respect to new products within the plate area, we are concentrating primarily on the somewhat thinner product range. We are thus able to reach new user categories. Within the sheet area, our focus at present is primarily on the extremely high-strength steels, which we refer to as extra and ultra high-strength sheet.'

'Within quenched steels, we believe that we will be able to grow by 50% within a five-year period, and our ambition within extreme high-strength sheet is to double our sales within the same period. This entails an annual rate of growth of 9% and 17% respectively within these two areas.'

More News:
  • For April 2003
  • From SSAB
  • For General