Regulatory News:
The steel industry needs to start benchmarking itself against
leading global manufacturing and service companies in order to
activate its long-term potential, Lakshmi Mittal, President and CEO of
ArcelorMittal, said today.
Speaking at the annual Steel Success Strategies Conference in New
York, Mr Mittal said: "I think we are all agreed that today the
industry is in a far healthier position. But similarly I feel that the
new period of stability we have entered calls for a new focus. We have
succeeded in proving that the steel industry has the chance of a
future. Now we have to concentrate on building a steel industry for
the modern age. One which is quality driven in terms of product,
process and supply chain."
Mr Mittal said that whilst the steel industry has been focused on
becoming sustainable for some time, historically this had related to
the ironing out of the industry's cyclicality and volatility. Now, he
said, it is time to work towards a sustainable model focussed on
customer and stakeholder satisfaction, not only self preservation.
"If the past few years have been about ensuring our survival, the
future must be about re-creating an industry admired for its
operational excellence and quality of application and product."
Mr Mittal advised steel companies to work to emulate the strict
quality criteria: "We have to think more like a service company, which
are customer demand led and innovative, rather than supply driven."
Mr Mittal said that steel companies needed to work more closely
with their customer base, implementing a new partnership approach to
ensure they fully understand the benefits the new sustainable model
can bring.
"There are a number of benefits to our customers. It enables us to
continue to invest heavily in R&D and product development. It enables
us to meet the most sophisticated customer demands and improve the
quality of our products. It enables us to offer global solutions with
consistent quality anywhere in the world, whether a developed or
developing market. It enables them to better manage their own input
costs. It enables us to identify new value proposals for them."
Furthermore Mr Mittal underlined the important positive
contribution to sustainable development the industry makes at a
process level but even more importantly thanks to its products, for
instance in the building and construction sector: "Increasing
urbanization requires safe, affordable, aesthetic, sustainable and
rapid construction. Steel is the perfect material for this. It can be
built more quickly. It is 50% lighter than traditional materials. It
is environmentally friendlier, with 80% of steel used in construction
today coming from recycling. Composite construction using steel
creates considerable energy savings and reduces CO2 emissions."
One year after the creation of ArcelorMittal, the undisputed
global steel industry leader, Mr Mittal also provided an update on the
merger.
"Integration is progressing very well and we are making excellent
progress in creating a united culture and operational approach. Our
scale has created an enormous knowledge pool from which all units can
benefit. Operationally we can leverage expertise in more established
markets to our operations in developing ones. Our product and
geographic diversification has created a more stable earnings base.
Our enhanced stability has enabled us to increase our R&D budget to
ensure we produce the most sophisticated products. We are able to
offer customers a global solution with a common standard."
A full copy of the speech is available upon request or from the
website, www.arcelormittal.com
About ArcelorMittal
ArcelorMittal is the world's number one steel company, with
320,000 employees in more than 60 countries. The company brings
together the world's number one and number two steel companies,
Arcelor and Mittal Steel.
ArcelorMittal is the leader in all major global markets, including
automotive, construction, household appliances and packaging, with
leading R&D and technology, as well as sizeable captive supplies of
raw materials and outstanding distribution networks. An industrial
presence in 27 European, Asian, African and American countries exposes
the company to all the key steel markets, from emerging to mature,
positions it will be looking to develop in the high-growth Chinese and
Indian markets.
ArcelorMittal key pro forma financials for 2006 show combined
revenues of USD 88.6 billions, with a crude steel production of 118
million tonnes, representing around 10 per cent of world steel output.
ArcelorMittal is listed on the stock exchanges of New York (MT),
Amsterdam (MT), Paris (MTP), Brussels (MTBL), Luxembourg (MT) and on
the Spanish stock exchanges of Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid (MTS) and
Valencia.
Forward-Looking Statements
This document may contain forward-looking information and
statements about Mittal Steel Company N.V. including Arcelor S.A.
These statements include financial projections and estimates and their
underlying assumptions, statements regarding plans, objectives and
expectations with respect to future operations, products and services,
and statements regarding future performance. Forward-looking
statements may be identified by the words "believe," "expect,"
"anticipate," "target" or similar expressions. Although Arcelor
Mittal's management believes that the expectations reflected in such
forward-looking statements are reasonable, investors and holders of
Mittal Steel's securities are cautioned that forward-looking
information and statements are subject to numerous risks and
uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally
beyond the control of Mittal Steel, that could cause actual results
and developments to differ materially and adversely from those
expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking
information and statements. These risks and uncertainties include
those discussed or identified in the filings with the Netherlands
Authority for the Financial Markets and the Securities and Exchange
Commission ("SEC") made or to be made by Mittal Steel, including (in
the latter case) on Form 20-F. Mittal Steel undertakes no obligation
to publicly update its forward-looking statements, whether as a result
of new information, future events, or otherwise.