voestalpine statement: status of exemptions from punitive US tariffs

9 October 2018 |

Over the past days voestalpine has been able to secure an important partial victory with respect to the punitive US tariffs of 25 percent imposed on steel products which came into effect in June. Of a total of 4,300 applications for product tariff exemptions submitted by our Group and our customers, we have currently received replies from the US administration to 2,640 of them. Roughly 2,360 of these replies were positive, while 280 were negative. This is a further significant reduction in the economic risk that these tariffs represent to voestalpine—at maximum around three percent of Group revenue is directly affected.

In view of this current status, we are optimistic that we will also receive overwhelmingly positive replies to the outstanding applications. In terms of free trade, we welcome the agreement on a new trade treaty which has finally been reached between the USA, Canada, and Mexico, as this is an important precondition for securing economic stability in this region as well as for normalizing trade relationships.

Wolfgang Eder, Chairman of the Management Board of voestalpine AG

voestalpine in the USA

voestalpine activities in the USA contribute significantly to regional value creation, as well as creating and securing jobs at a total of 48 locations. The Group has specifically invested USD 1.4 billion in the production of high-tech products in the USA in recent years, resulting in around 3,000 highly skilled local jobs which make a sustained and positive impact. voestalpine generates around two thirds of its US revenue of around EUR 1.3 billion (BY 2017/18) as a local manufacturer in the USA.

The voestalpine Group

In its business segments, voestalpine is a globally leading technology group with a unique combination of material and processing expertise. voestalpine, which operates globally, has around 500 Group companies and locations in more than 50 countries on all five continents. It has been listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange since 1995. With its top-quality products and system solutions using steel and other metals, it is one of the leading partners to the automotive and consumer goods industries in Europe as well as to the aerospace and oil & gas industries worldwide. voestalpine is also the world market leader in turnout technology, special rails, tool steel, and special sections. In the business year 2017/18, the Group generated revenue of around EUR 13 billion, with an operating result (EBITDA) of almost EUR 2 billion; it has around 51,600 employees worldwide.