Outokumpu sees India emerging as a big stainless steel market
In the Indian stainless steel bar market, there are lobbies which want anti-dumping duty on imported steel. How is Outokumpu tackling this?
We want to bring the latest products to Indian customers. But at times we get entangled in anti-dumping issues. It is something which we could do without. Eventually, other players will realise that they can only increase their market share by giving competitive products to theirs customers.
Business Line reported that of Finnish stainless steel sheet giant Outokumpu is closely watching the Indian market and feels that India will emerge as a major market in the long term.
In an interaction with Business Line, Mr Seitovirta CEO of Outokumpu shared his views about the domestic stainless steel market and the growth plans of the company.
Q - Are you looking to scale up India and Asia-Pacific operations?
A - Already both Outokumpu and Inoxum have India operations through sales offices. We are looking at more cross selling opportunities with Inoxum joining us. Our joint product portfolio would be very competitive in the Indian market.
Q - What are Outokumpu's India plans?
A - We have just acquired Inoxum and it has satiated our appetite for now. We are keen to service our joint customer base and leverage the synergies arising from the acquisition. However, we are closely watching India as it will emerge a major market in long term.
But in the short term, we are not looking at any major acquisitions.
However, we are keeping our options open. We could look at joint ventures for our India operations in the future. Nothing is excluded from our agenda.
Today, if you look at the stainless steel market, about 60 per cent of the global demand is from the Asia-Pacific region. We might restructure our operations in Europe, but in APAC the demand is very bullish. Of our total revenue of $ 5 billion last year, APAC had contributed about 12 per cent.
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