The difficulties of Thyssenkrupp in Germany, example of the European steel crisis
Audio 01:40
A storage and distribution facility by German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp in Duisburg, Germany, January 30, 2020 (illustrative image).
REUTERS / Wolfgang Rattay
By: Altin Lazaj
4 min
The pandemic dealt a severe blow to the steel industry in Europe, already weakened even before the health crisis.
This is the case with the Thyssenkrupp company.
Destabilized by the Covid-19, the German steel giant is looking for solutions for its future.
Publicity
The pandemic has weighed on Thyssenkrupp's finances.
In the second quarter, the group lost nearly a billion euros.
It is a historic loss.
Faced with these difficulties, the German industry giant is looking for solutions;
all options are on the table;
both the rapprochement with other groups and the recourse to state aid.
While the British steelmaker Liberty Steel has just offered Thyssenkrupp to buy its steel business, the unions are also asking for the entry of the German state into the company's capital.
The situation of the German group is not the only example in this crisis of the steel industry in Europe.
ArcelorMittal announced last week that it would close a blast furnace and a steel plant in Poland.
The global steel giant explains these closures by the fall in demand for steel due to the pandemic and competition through low-cost extra-European imports.
Indeed, China, the world's largest producer of steel, has been flooding the markets for several years, which has plunged prices.
And the Covid-19 crisis has only worsened the situation in Europe.
If the demand for steel has fallen sharply, it is mainly due to the collapse of the automobile industry, the second outlet for the European steel industry after construction.
Small consolation for the sector: the restart could take place next year.
The World Steel Association projects an increase of nearly 4% in global demand in 2021 mainly thanks to the economic recovery of China, which produces and consumes more than half of the world's steel.
In the European Union, the increase in demand could reach 11%.
But that will not compensate for the fall of 15% expected this year.
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