Austria’s voestalpine is banking on local-for-local production in its various countries of activity, executives said during a conference call on Wednesday, when they also revealed several new projects.
They highlighted Brazil, especially, as a market with great potential, which has not been often mentioned in company communication, with voestalpine one of the leading manufacturers of special tubes and sections in the country. Its location in Caxias do Sol is currently being expanded to include a logistics centre with corresponding facilities, Kallanish hear during the conference.
In the niche area of welding technology, voestalpine has invested in expanding its production of welding consumables in India. Voestalpine Böhler Welding has been gradually expanding its local value creation in India in recent years and invested around €3 million ($3.4m) in its Indian locations.
In Egypt, voestalpine Railway Systems is manufacturing turnouts in Cairo, supplying around 260 high-speed turnouts for the construction of the first Egyptian high-speed line – the Green Line.
In the USA, the foundation has been laid for the expansion of production and sales capacities in the storage systems business segment in Louisville, Kentucky. Carola Richter, head of voestalpine’s Metal Forming division, highlighted that storage systems are a particularly successful segment within the group, with further expansion planned.
Regarding the doubling of US steel import tariffs, chief executive Herbert Eibensteiner noted that the 25% duties imposed until now could still be handed down to the customer. At 50%, however, demand from the US will clearly see a setback. The company already expected a loss in the two-million digit euro range under the previous scenario. With 50% imposed, the loss will be in the higher end of that range, he predicted.
Christian Koehl Germany
