It’s not all doom and gloom — just ask steelmakers.
Germany’s ThyssenKrupp and Salzgitter have both raised their profit forecasts, fuelled by demand from fast-growing China, India and Russia. Profits are soaring on sky-high prices for rolled and flat steel.
Both companies are cashing in on growth outside Europe, and they join Hochtief and Kloeckner who this week also showed that industrial Germany is insulated against a global economic slowdown.
Are steel companies really hurting from huge rises in the price of raw materials like iron ore? The biggest miner BHP Billiton reckons they aren’t and hopes to sway anti-trust regulators who are reviewing its takeover bid for rival Rio Tinto.
Steel firms from China to Japan to Europe have cited rising raw material costs as they ramp up prices, with Germany’s Salzgitter the latest to push the blame upstream.
Rio Tinto agreed record prices rises with China’s Baosteel on Monday that nearly doubled the price of iron ore this year under long-term contracts and BHP may try to get even more .
