greentec steel is voestalpine’s ambitious phased plan for the long-term decarbonization of steel production. As a first step, the Group is now offering a CO2-reduced Edition of all the flat steel products manufactured by its Steel Division in Linz. As a result of an innovative raw materials mix and even more efficient processes, the direct emissions generated during the manufacture of voestalpine’s greentec steel Edition products have been reduced by around 10 percent. We are currently processing several customer orders, and the signs are that there will be significant demand for sophisticated greentec steel Edition products such as hot-rolled steel strip, isovac electrical steel, and phs-ultraform.

voestalpine has been listed on the renowned Dow Jones Sustainability Index Europe (DJSI) for the first time and is the only European steel company to be awarded this honor. The Dow Jones sustainability indices are the most respected worldwide, only including companies judged to be leaders in their industries according to long-term economic, ecological, and social criteria. The voestalpine Group is now included in two sustainability indices following its listing in the FTSE4Good two years ago.

In future ÖBB trains on the new Koralm Railway will roll over voestalpine high-performance rails. voestalpine Railway Systems has recently supplied high-speed turnouts for speeds of up to 230 km/h for this advanced mobility project, together with the accompanying digital signaling technology to monitor the turnouts. Now the global market leader for complete railway systems, based in Donawitz, Styria, is also equipping the Koralm Railway and associated Koralm Tunnel with 120-meter high-quality rails. 

Accepting social and environmental responsibility is an integral part of the corporate culture at voestalpine. The Linz-based Steel Division is now one of the first steel companies worldwide to have been officially certified as a sustainable production site by the non-profit organization ResponsibleSteel. The precondition for certification was to fulfill 200 criteria which included the responsible procurement of raw materials, reducing CO₂ emissions, and the management of labor and human rights.

voestalpine is investing EUR 188 million to build a new integrated pickling line in the cold rolling mill 3 (“BETA 3”) at the site in Linz. The fully automated pickling line with tandem cold mill meets the most stringent Industry 4.0 standards, further increasing the manufacturing quality of high and ultra-high strength steels for the automotive, household goods, and construction industry, as well as for electrical steel used in e-mobility. BETA 3 also sets new sustainability standards: hydrochloric acid takes the place of sulfuric acid for pickling of carbon steel qualities. The required acid is regenerated in a circulatory system using an on-site acid regeneration plant. Today marked the groundbreaking ceremony for the multi-million project; BETA 3 is scheduled to commence operation in late 2023. The plant will have an annual production capacity of around two million tons.

As one of Austria’s most research-intensive enterprises, with over 700 employees working in research at more than 70 Group companies and in excess of 3,000 patents, voestalpine has continuously raised its research and development expenditure over the past years. The Group is continuing this trend in the business year 2021/22 with a research budget of EUR 185 million. Increasingly, the focus of the company’s research lies in digital and simultaneously resource-efficient products and processes.

voestalpine lives and breathes innovation, a fact that the Group has proven many times over throughout the years. In 1949, the LD process was the “invention of the century” that instantly changed the global steel industry. And in recent decades, the international company has set new standards in automotive lightweight construction. When the idea of developing an ultralight, corrosion-resistant, yet high-strength “super steel” was first raised almost 20 years ago, it was considered to have little chance of success—yet not long ago, the 300 millionth phs component rolled off the production line. And most recently, the voestalpine invention that is now standard in modern car bodies was approved for series production by the world’s largest car manufacturer.

Despite the economic crisis, voestalpine AG closed its 2020/21 business year with a positive result and can once again significantly increase its dividend in the current business year. Specifically, a dividend of EUR 0.50 per share was resolved for the business year 2020/21 at today’s 29th Annual General Meeting. This is an increase of EUR 0.30 over the previous year’s dividend of EUR 0.20 per share. The Annual General Meeting, which was again a virtual meeting without the physical presence of shareholders, approved the proposal of the Management Board and Supervisory Board. The dividend will be transferred on July 19, 2021 (ex-dividend date: July 15, 2021).

voestalpine has developed an industrial scale process for carbon-neutral steel production without the use of fossil carbon and secured the intellectual property rights to the process from the European Patent Office. The patent is valid in all major European steel manufacturing countries and specifically covers the production of sponge iron (DRI or HBI) using green hydrogen and biogas in the direct reduction process.

China has managed the coronavirus-induced 2020 economic crisis faster than any other country, and is already back on a path to growth. Beneficiaries of this recovery include the international voestalpine Group, with its 40 sites and 3,000 employees in the country. Growing demand in the premium segment of the automotive industry in particular is ensuring good capacity utilization, and voestalpine is responding quickly by expanding capacity. New high-tech products for railway infrastructure as well as welding consumables are also increasingly filling the order books. Furthermore, the steel and technology Group recently continued the rollout of its pioneering 3D-printing process with metal powder by opening two new Chinese sites.

In response to the current level of orders in the long steel sector, voestalpine is now once again operating two blast furnaces at the site in Donawitz. One of the two furnaces, which has an annual pig iron production capacity of around 750,000 tons and underwent scheduled interim repairs during summer 2020, was restarted in order to meet the growth in demand. The Metal Engineering Division of the voestalpine Group produces high-quality steel products in Donawitz which are then processed into special rails, high-quality wire rod, and extremely high load-bearing OCTG by the Group’s Styrian subsidiaries.