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BUSINESS

Volkswagen steers new business to China

German car giant Volkswagen is to open five new factories in China before the end of this year, it emerged on Friday. The move is part of the company's attempt to replace rivals Toyota and General Motors as the world's leading car maker.

Published: 12 July 2013 10:35 CEST
Volkswagen steers new business to China
Photo: DPA

At present the Volkswagen produces 20 car models in China, as well as importing 50 more. By 2015, when a further two factories will have opened, the number of models produced on-site is expected to rise to 30 and the number of imports to 60.

Chinese law requires foreign investors to set up joint ventures with local companies to prevent businesses from abroad from dominating the market.

One of the plants Volkswagen is planning to open by September is located in Ürümqi in the remote north-western restive region of Xinjiang, which is populated by the Uyghur Muslim minority. They claim to be suppressed by the government – which in turn accuses members of the community of involvement in terrorist activities.

According to head of Volkswagen’s Chinese operations, the company had established clear strategies to employ people from all sectors of the population.

DPA/The Local/kkf

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ENVIRONMENT

Sweden’s SSAB to build €4.5bn green steel plant in Luleå 

The Swedish steel giant SSAB has announced plans to build a new steel plant in Luleå for 52 billion kronor (€4.5 billion), with the new plant expected to produce 2.5 million tons of steel a year from 2028.

Published: 2 April 2024 13:44 CEST
Sweden's SSAB to build €4.5bn green steel plant in Luleå 

“The transformation of Luleå is a major step on our journey to fossil-free steel production,” the company’s chief executive, Martin Lindqvist, said in a press release. “We will remove seven percent of Sweden’s carbon dioxide emissions, strengthen our competitiveness and secure jobs with the most cost-effective and sustainable sheet metal production in Europe.”

The new mini-mill, which is expected to start production at the end of 2028 and to hit full capacity in 2029, will include two electric arc furnaces, advanced secondary metallurgy, a direct strip rolling mill to produce SSABs specialty products, and a cold rolling complex to develop premium products for the transport industry.

It will be fed partly from hydrogen reduced iron ore produced at the HYBRIT joint venture in Gälliväre and partly with scrap steel. The company hopes to receive its environemntal permits by the end of 2024.

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The announcement comes just one week after SSAB revealed that it was seeking $500m in funding from the US government to develop a second HYBRIT manufacturing facility, using green hydrogen instead of fossil fuels to produce direct reduced iron and steel.

The company said it also hoped to expand capacity at SSAB’s steel mill in Montpelier, Iowa. 

The two new investment announcements strengthen the company’s claim to be the global pioneer in fossil-free steel.

It produced the world’s first sponge iron made with hydrogen instead of coke at its Hybrit pilot plant in Luleå in 2021. Gälliväre was chosen that same year as the site for the world’s first industrial scale plant using the technology. 

In 2023, SSAB announced it would transform its steel mill in Oxelösund to fossil-free production.

The company’s Raahe mill in Finland, which currently has new most advanced equipment, will be the last of the company’s big plants to shift away from blast furnaces. 

The steel industry currently produces 7 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, and shifting to hydrogen reduced steel and closing blast furnaces will reduce Sweden’s carbon emissions by 10 per cent and Finland’s by 7 per cent.

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