German steelmaker Salzgitter plans to increase its sales to more than €8.5bn ($10.6bn) in 2021 against €7.09bn achieved last year owing to higher demand and prices for steel.
The company noted in its 2020 earnings report on Mar 15 that it would push its initiatives to attain carbon neutrality as well as continue its projects to build a third hot-dip galvanizing line in Salzgitter and a new heat treatment line in Ilsenburg.
Under its decarbonization initiatives, the steel producer is targeting a 30pc reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030 and 95pc by 2050 by increasing its use of renewable energy such as wind and hydrogen. In fact, the company has commissioned the Wind Hydrogen Salzgitter project that aims to produce green hydrogen as well as electricity from wind power.
The green hydrogen is slated to be used by the steelmaker’s subsidiary Salzgitter Fachstahl for its annealing process this year. The company also plans to use green hydrogen to produce direct reduced iron at a new plant that is likely to begin operations in early 2022.
In 2020, the company’s crude steel production fell to 6.03mn mt from 6.61mn mt in the previous year. Its sales also declined to €7.09bn from €8.5bn during the same period under review. Salzgitter cited a drop in average prices for rolled steel and lower shipment volumes for lower revenues. The steelmaker’s net loss increased in 2020 to €273mn from €237mn in 2019.
(€1=$1.19)