Air Liquide to invest in expanding industrial gases production in Germany and Italy to supply to steel industry

摘要

Air Liquide has decided to invest over Euro 120-mn to increase its industrial gases production capacity in Germany and Italy to meet the increasing demand in Europe, where steel consumption grew more than 5% in 2007, driven mainly by the construction and automotive industry. Industrial gases play a significant role in the steel making process and serve to reduce production costs — they are used to reduce the consumption of raw materials, like the injection of oxygen in the blast furnace which allows the steel companies to consume less coking coal.