The global production of cast steel continued its growth trend in the first half of 2008, though the growth rates lagged slightly behind those from the past two years; worldwide, a growth rate of 5.7% was reported – and 9.3% in China (the lowest level since 2001).
In the first half, negative growth was reported in the field of stainless steel production – the decrease was 1.1% worldwide and as much as 15% in the EU countries. These trends were obviously reflected in the business performance of the Industrial Metallurgical Holding member companies, as the very beginning of 2008 saw the first signs of a slackening off of the demand in the EU market, which accounts for over 60% of our total export volume.
The decreased volume of orders pushed up the volume of stock; this was reflected in pressure to reduce price in a twofold manner: due to lower prices of alloying additives and through pressure on the basic prices. The first half of the year was further characterised by a steep growth in oil and gas prices, as well as of the raw material of vital significance in our sector - waste steel.
Considering these market trends, both in purchase and sales, we may be satisfied with our business outcome in the first half of the year. Despite vigorous investment activities, which demanded occasional shutdowns of regular production, we succeeded to remain on track for the most part with the planned volumes and thereby preserved the levels of operations from the past year.

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