Resumen de Magnesita: : Efficiency and cost control top 2016 refractories agenda
A weak steel industry, falling consumption and declining prices are just some of the hurdles facing refractories producers in 2016. Liz Gyekye, Chief Reporter, spoke to leading Brazilian manufacturer Magnesita Refratarios SA's CEO, Octavio Lopes, about how the company is planning to deal with these issues.
2015 was a challenging year for all refractories companies as well as for their main end clients, such as steel and cement makers, given the overall macroeconomic situation, the drop in commodities prices, and China's slower growth. But I believe that it was a special year for Magnesita as we could see that our diversification strategy, designed in 2012, is proving to be beneficial. We have been gaining market share in our core markets, as well as in markets outside South and North America and Western Europe, where we historically have not had a significant presence.
We believe that our customers' main priority for 2016 will be cost control. In times like these, our cost per performance (CPP) model, under which refractories producers and steel makers foster a partnership towards greater efficiency, is the right solution. With Magnesita's CPP solutions, our interests and the interests of our clients are aligned towards the delivery of the highest performance with the minimum refractory cost per tonne of steel produced.
