Engineering

2.2 Management report on on the Group Consolidated results of of operations
BRIC stands for Brazil, Russia, India and
China. India and China.
In the USA the economy cooled noticeably. The continued difficult situation on the labor market, the still
weak real estate sector, and the pressure to consolidate public-sector budgets impacted economic growth,
which is expected to reach only 1.6% in 2011. Economic activity in Japan was severely depressed as a
result of the natural disaster and its aftermath. Japan’s GDP is expected to contract by 0.5% in 2011.
The BRIC countries mostly continued to record high growth in 2011. Although the global economic
slowdown weighed on exports, Brazil and Russia are nevertheless expected to grow by 3.7%, India by 7.6%
and China by 9.4% .
Gross domestic product 2010, 2011*
Real change versus previous year in %
Euro zone
Germany
Russia
Rest of Central/Eastern Europe
USA
Brazil
Japan
China
India
Middle East
2010 2011 * Forecast
World
(0.5)
1.7
1.6
1.6
2.2
9.4
8.9
Situation in the sectors mainly positive
Flat carbon steel – After an exceptionally strong increase at the beginning of the year, growth in global
steel demand slowed markedly. Nevertheless, world crude steel output is forecast to reach 1.5 billion tons
for the first time in 2011, 7% more than in 2010. Above all China but also most of the other emerging
nations significantly expanded their output and in some cases their exports. Steel production in the
industrialized countries was likewise higher, with the main exception of Japan. With production levels high in
the first nine months of 2011, the German steel industry expects production to be up year-on-year.
In the first few months of 2011 the European flat carbon steel market was also robust. Demand from
important customer groups increased. A strong cost-induced upward trend in prices stimulated demand for
inventories. However, the momentum subsequently dropped sharply. The main reasons for this were
uncertainty over the market outlook combined with the good supply situation and European steel producers’
shorter delivery times. Order influx slowed, due in part to increased third-country imports. As a result, steel
prices on the European spot markets slipped after reaching a two-year high in March/April 2011. The
situation on the US market for flat carbon steel products was similar.
2.9
3.2
3.0
3.6
4.0
3.7
3.7
4.0
3.4
4.0
4.6
6.2
7.5
7.6
10.3
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