Arcelor Mittal to Expand Ferritic Stainless Output

Arcelor Mittal’s stainless unit tries to expand the ferritic stainless steel output to 500,000 tonnes in 2008 from 50,000 tonnes in 2005. The unit tries to shift to ferritic stainless when the users try to avoid extremely high nickel ingot cost. The unit focuses on value added instead of higher volume. The unit improves solutions for customers including wider service center network. Mr. Jean-Yves Gilet, Chief Executive Officer of Arcelor Mittal Stainless said at venue of annual conference in Kyoto of International Stianless Steel Forum (ISSF) the unit’s vision is to develop solutions for each customer. He said the ferritic stainless rate will increase to 50% of total stainless from current 25%. The unit tries to make use of the advantage position in ferritic stainless, bright annealing products and 2 meters wide special products at Genk in Belgium. The unit develops new bright annealing products and new annealing process to add value and to improve the efficiency. The unit also expands the service center network in China, Vietnam, Brazil, Poland and other growing market. The unit tries to expand the business in growing market through the better service for customers.