Download - Salzgitter AG

A Group Management Report and Management Report on Salzgitter AG I. Business and the Environment 94 95
China’s export activities had an impact on all economically relevant regions, first and foremost North
America, the Far East and the EU. China has been a net exporter of tubes since 2004.
The aggressive approach of the Chinese has elicited the first responses reflected in the trade policies of
the USA, Canada and Russia. EU producers are also considering of taking countermeasures with regard
to certain types of tubes to counteract the massively high rate at which Chinese exports are expanding.
Mechanical engineering on a steep growth path
The mechanical engineering sector repeated the excellent results of the previous year. Real increase
in production accelerated to around 8% at a global level and to as much as 11% in Germany.
Increases of this dimension pushed the capacity utilization of domestic production facilities in the
mechanical engineering business, which averaged 92%, to their limits, and there were shortfalls in the
supply of material.
Having taken second place in the ranking of machine producing countries (second to the USA and
ahead of Japan), sales in Germany soared again in 2007. Both exports and a stronger domestic market
provided excellent opportunities. Exports to the USA, the largest buyer of German machinery and
plants, have meanwhile suffered a slight decline owing to the ailing US economy and the strong euro.
Exports to other European countries developed above average. The swiftest growth rate of the world’s
mechanical engineering nations was again posted by China where growth was more than 25%.
The companies of the Technology Division are among the global leaders in their specialized sectors.
Regional growth, bolstered by excellent quality and underpinned by intensive research and development
activities, serves to secure this status. Customers are particularly appreciative of these companies’
international presence.
It was, however, not only the competitive position which was satisfactory, but also the economic
success of this division, buoyed by the conditions in our customer sectors and regions. All in all, they
developed well in 2007. Our main customer sector, the beverages industry, continues to grow by 5 to
6% a year, which is a sound basis for the utilization of our products. From a regional standpoint, our
orders still mainly come from Europe. The regions of America and Asia were, however, also able to
deliver excellent growth figures.
Business and
the Environment