Thursday, September 14, 2006
Global Steel is Coming Together
BusinessWeek Online via Yahoo! News
The recent contest for control of Arcelor, won by Mittal Steel, will lead to the combination of the world's two largest steel companies and, as such, represents a watershed event for the global steel industry. Many casual observers of the business assume that the race for supremacy will be run once this fusion is completed, since the new company will be the No. 1 steel producer by output in North America, Europe, and South America -- and will be more than three times larger than its next largest competitor.
But the race is far from over. In baseball terms, it's the bottom of the first inning rather than the bottom of the ninth. Consolidation has become the mantra of the steel business in recent years, as the forces of globalization sweep through the industry.
There's lots more and it's a good read.
Whether it's a good forecast of how things will go in the future, whether steel companies will be that far-sighted, remains to be seen.
The recent contest for control of Arcelor, won by Mittal Steel, will lead to the combination of the world's two largest steel companies and, as such, represents a watershed event for the global steel industry. Many casual observers of the business assume that the race for supremacy will be run once this fusion is completed, since the new company will be the No. 1 steel producer by output in North America, Europe, and South America -- and will be more than three times larger than its next largest competitor.
But the race is far from over. In baseball terms, it's the bottom of the first inning rather than the bottom of the ninth. Consolidation has become the mantra of the steel business in recent years, as the forces of globalization sweep through the industry.
There's lots more and it's a good read.
Whether it's a good forecast of how things will go in the future, whether steel companies will be that far-sighted, remains to be seen.
