«Steel» Economical Union, VDEh Steel Insrtitute (Düsseldorf, Germany):

Kerkhoff H. J., President and CEO, redaktion@stahleisen.de

Current economical situation in the global iron and steel industry is analyzed. It is shown that China is close to its saturation point. Favourable prospects of the countries with transitional economy are observed. Different vectors of development, stability or stagnation for Japan, CIS and European Union are displayed. The German iron and steel industry is examined more thoroughly. It is concluded that the policy in the area of power engineering and climate remain to be considered as the factor that can vary the «Game Rules». It is clear that metallurgical enterprises are developing at present time from the role of material suppliers to the role of system suppliers. It means that modernization helps not only to improve single piece of equipment, but also to get positive results in the whole shop or even plant, fi rst of all in the fi eld of resource- and power saving, environment and labour protection, development of innovative materials and products.