Aperam expands its forest business and pursues its strategy of investing in sustainable new business models

 

 

Luxembourg June 8, 2023 (18:00 CET) -  Aperam expands its forest business and pursues its strategy of investing in sustainable new business models.

 

Aperam – one of the global leaders in stainless, specialty alloys, recycling and bio-energy production -- has concluded a joint venture (“JV”) for the expansion of its forests for charcoal production with Ferbasa - one of the world’s leading producers of ferroalloys. This expansion, as announced in Q2 2022, is in line with Aperam’s strategy to grow BioEnergia - its existing forest operations by 20% and to expand into new business models focusing on energy transition.

 

Aperam’s BioEnergia is located in Minas Gerais state, in the southeast of Brazil, with an annual production capacity of 450 thousand tonnes of charcoal, making Aperam the largest producer of charcoal issued from renewable forests  in the world. Subject to the regulatory prior approvals (among them, the Brazilian Administrative Council for Economic Defense), the JV would operate in close proximity to Aperam’s existing operations thereby allowing the realisation of synergies and cost benefits. It also enables Aperam to optimise and further increase its charcoal production - a renewable and sustainable biomass based source of energy that is avoiding the emission of 700 thousand tonnes of CO2 pa already today. The expansion will also enable BioEnergia to meaningfully grow new business models associated with renewable energy and global decarbonization.

 

The additional space will be managed according to Aperam’s effective and responsible environmental standards that are voluntarily certified under ISO 14001, and by the Forest Stewardship Council (“FSC”) on a yearly basis since 2008. FSC certification ensures that products come from responsibly managed forests that provide environmental, social and economic benefits. From the genetic improvement phase to the carbonization of the wood, fully sustainable practices are adopted and go far beyond the traditional ones, aiming at preserving the environment and improving people's quality of life. Finally, we are proud of our forest operations as a way to contribute to the Climate Change challenge of humanity.

 

Find out more about our sustainability strategy on Capital Markets Day and Aperam’s Sustainability Report “Made For Life”, available at aperam.com

 

About Aperam

 

Aperam is a global player in stainless, electrical and specialty steel and recycling, with customers in over 40 countries. Starting from 1 January 2022, the business is organised in four primary reportable segments: Stainless & Electrical Steel, Services & Solutions, Alloys & Specialties and Recycling & Renewables.

 

Aperam has a flat Stainless and Electrical steel capacity of 2.5 million tonnes in Brazil and Europe and is a leader in high value specialty products. In addition to its industrial network, spread over six production facilities in Brazil, Belgium and France, Aperam has a highly integrated distribution, processing and services network and a unique capability to produce low carbon footprint stainless and special steels from biomass, stainless steel scrap and high performance alloys scrap. With Bioenergia and its unique capability to produce charcoal made from its own FSC®-certified forestry and with our Recycling activities (expanded with our acquisition of ELG in 2021), a global leader in collecting, trading, processing and recycling of stainless steel scrap and high performance alloys, Aperam’s places sustainability at the heart of its business, helping customers worldwide to excel in the circular economy..Thanks to BioEnergia forestry sequestration, Aperam's Brazilian operations presented a certified net negative GHG balance (scope 1+2) in 2022.

 

In 2022, Aperam had sales of EUR 8,156 million and shipments of 2.31 million tonnes.

 

For further information, please refer to our website at www.aperam.com.

 

Contact

 

Investor Relations / Thorsten Zimmermann: +352 661 570 250; thorsten.zimmermann@aperam.com

Company Secretary / Julia Eisenmann +352 661 527 279; julia.eisenmann@aperam.com

Corporate Communications / Raquel Faria +352 661 128 989; raquel.faria@aperam.com