Jun 19 2010
“An important milestone in ThyssenKrupp’s global growth strategy is now ready for ramp-up,” said Dr. Ekkehard Schulz, Executive Board Chairman of ThyssenKrupp AG, today (June 18, 2010) at the opening ceremony of the ThyssenKrupp CSA Siderúrgica do Atlântico steel mill in Santa Cruz, Brazil.
Among the roughly 1,500 guests – including over 1,000 employees – were the Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the Governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Sergio Cabral, and the CEO of Vale, Roger Agnelli. Vale is a co-owner of ThyssenKrupp CSA with a 26.87 percent stake.
“Despite the global crisis, we stuck to our plans for our two major projects in Brazil and Alabama, where the slabs produced here will be further processed. We were always sure we had made the right decision. We want to not just maintain but expand our leading position in the global market for high-quality flat-rolled carbon steel,” continued Dr. Schulz. He promised that ThyssenKrupp will be a good neighbor in Santa Cruz.
President Lula expressed his belief that ThyssenKrupp’s investment will benefit the Brazilian economy over the long term, pointing to ThyssenKrupp’s 200-year history in Germany and the company’s involvement in Brazil going back to 1837. Governor Cabral highlighted the significance for jobs in Rio de Janeiro state. During the construction phase more than 30,000 people were employed on the construction site. When the steel mill is in operation, the company will provide 3,500 jobs, which will mostly be filled by Brazilian employees. The number of indirect jobs created by the investment is expected to be four times as high. Cabral said: “ThyssenKrupp CSA is an investment of which the State of Rio de Janeiro can be proud. It is a demonstration of confidence in the Brazilian people and in the country, in addition to being a strategic investment. Rio de Janeiro is transforming itself into a national and international steel-making hub, and ThyssenKrupp CSA is making an extraordinary contribution to this process. ThyssenKrupp and Vale are two major companies with well-earned reputations for excellence in their fields of activity and, together, will bring prosperity and economic growth to Brazil”.
Like Dr. Schulz, Vale’s CEO Roger Agnelli talked about the mutual trust and cooperation between their companies over many decades. “Our aim is to promote the growth of steel making production in Brazil, creating wealth and sustainable development. CSA is the concrete manifestation of this”, adds Vale’s director-president, Roger Agnelli. According to Vale’s director-president, initiatives which stimulate the local economy are essential, but the company has to be alert to the other concerns of the communities. “The support of the community is essential when operating a venture such as this. There is no point in embarking on a project which is not completely in tune with the needs of the community”.
State-of-the-art plant configuration
The new integrated steel mill being built by ThyssenKrupp in the state of Rio de Janeiro at a cost of €5.2 billion is the biggest industrial investment in Brazil in the past ten years and is also the first major steel mill to be built in the country since the mid-1980s. The investment project is central to ThyssenKrupp’s growth strategy for premium carbon flat steel in Europe and North America. After start-up, the plant will produce 5 million metric tons of high-quality low-cost slabs. 3 million tons will be supplied to the processing plant also under construction near Mobile in Alabama, and 2 million tons will go to ThyssenKrupp’s plants in Germany, where they will be processed for customers in Europe.