Addressing the Steel Success Strategies
Europe Conference in Paris,
Severstal CEO Alexey Mordashov shared his views on whether
Russia has already joined
China and
India as one of the main drivers of growth in the world steel industry.
Mr. Mordashov described
Russia as a rapidly developing economy, which has already become one of the top 10 global economies following seven successive years of growth at around seven percent per annum. He added that with foreign currency reserves amounting to $450 billion and a public debt of only about eight percent of GDP, which is one of the lowest in
Europe,
Russia is in a very strong economic position at the current time. GDP per capita is expected to hit $18,000 in 2015 when
Russia can become the largest economy in
Europe.
Mr.Mordashov stressed that as a result of its strong economy steel
consumption has boomed in
Russia, with finished steel
consumption having increased by 17 percent over the past year. The
construction, oil and gas and machinery industries are driving this increase in steel
consumption. A number of steel projects are in the pipeline to tap into the potential in
Russia.
Russia's
construction steel industry is growing at a fast rate and, in this context,
Severstal is planning three new mini-mills, of annual capacities of one milllion tons each, increasing the share of long products to 27 percent from 19 percent, Mordashov confirmed. He also said that a heavy section EAF plus a rolling mill plant are also on the way in the Cherepovets area. In addition,
Severstal is planning to move further downstream to address growing niches in the Russian domestic market.