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The Aciéries Réunies de Burbach-Eich-Dudelange (
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
; literally "United Steelworks of Burbach-Eich-Dudelange"), better known by its
acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in '' NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, a ...
ARBED, was a major
Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...
-based steel and
iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...
producing company. Created in 1911 after the merger of three steel producing companies, ARBED had a significant role in the economy of the Grand Duchy until it merged in 2002 with two other European steel companies to create Arcelor.


History


Origins (1882–1911)

The discovery of
iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the ...
in Luxembourg in the 1850s and the introduction of
metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sci ...
in 1876 led to the development of an important national steel industry, especially in the south of the country, and provided Luxembourg with sustained economic growth during the second half of the 19th century. This economic growth was greatly boosted during the two decades preceding World War I when large integrated steelworks, able to convert cast iron into steel and rolled steel, were constructed. Steel production surged from 145 313 tonnes in 1900 to 1 115 004 tonnes in 1913, and steel-making accounted for around 60% of total industrial employment in Luxembourg before World War I. The close economic relationship between Luxembourg and its neighbours, especially
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
, enabled investors to develop cross-border projects. As early as 1856, Luxembourg
industrialist A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...
s and members of
parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. ...
founded the ''Saarbrücker Eisenhüttengesellschaft - Société en participation des Forges de Sarrebruck'' ("
Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; french: link=no, Sarrebruck ; Rhine Franconian: ''Saarbrigge'' ; lb, Saarbrécken ; lat, Saravipons, lit=The Bridge(s) across the Saar river) is the capital and largest city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken is ...
Ironworks shareholding company"). Similarly, German industrialists invested funds in the development of Luxembourg steel companies. South Luxembourg's important economic development due to steel production led to the creation of several steel-producing companies. In 1882, the ''Société Anonyme des Hauts Fourneaux et Forges de Dudelange'' ("High Furnace and Forging Mills of Dudelange Shareholding Company") was founded by the ''Société en commandite des Forges d'Eich, Le Gallais, Metz et Cie'', founded in 1838, and the main shareholders of the Saarbrücken shareholding company. As steel production increased exponentially, it soon became necessary to merge companies. In 1911, at an extraordinary general corporate meeting of the ''Société anonyme des Hauts Fourneaux et Forges de Dudelange'', decision was taken to incorporate the ''Société anonyme des Mines du Luxembourg et Forges de Sarrebruck'' and the ''Société en commandite des Forges d'Eich, Le Gallais, Metz et Cie.'' into the Dudelange company. The new shareholding company, merging the three largest local steel companies, was named ARBED S.A., the acronym for ''Aciéries Réunies de
Burbach Burbach is a name meaning "farmer's brook" (from Old High German ''bur'' "farmer" + ''bach'' "brook"). It can refer to: Places in Germany * Burbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, municipality in Siegen-Wittgenstein district * Burbach, Rhineland-Palati ...
-Eich- Dudelange, Société Anonyme''.


Growth and Development of ARBED (1911–1945)

At its founding, ARBED operated 21
blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric p ...
s, 3 electric furnaces, 2 steelmaking plants and several rolling mills. In 1912, raw steel production from the ARBED works reached 824 500 tonnes. Although steel production almost halted during World War I, the following decades prove to be very successful. In order to further develop, ARBED took an international dimension and acquired and absorbed several companies in Belgium and Germany in the 1920s. At the end of World War I, German capital was withdrawn, and steelworks were taken over by groups with
Franco Franco may refer to: Name * Franco (name) * Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975 * Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître" Prefix * Franco, a prefix used when ...
- Belgian-Luxembourg capital. Two companies, ''Société Metallurgique des Terres Rouges'' and ''Société Minière des Terres Rouges'', were specifically created by ARBED and other French and Belgian companies for the purpose of acquiring plants and mines west of the
Rhine The Rhine ; french: Rhin ; nl, Rijn ; wa, Rén ; li, Rien; rm, label=Sursilvan, Rein, rm, label=Sutsilvan and Surmiran, Ragn, rm, label=Rumantsch Grischun, Vallader and Puter, Rain; it, Reno ; gsw, Rhi(n), including in Alsatian dialect, Al ...
which had to be sold by Germany as a consequence of the
Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1 ...
. ARBED, already a major regional steel producer, further developed its international reach by establishing with the ''Société Metallurgique des Terres Rouges'' company a joint sales company called COLUMETA in 1920, and a joint
shipping Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ex ...
company called TRANSAF in 1922. In order to develop its international reach, an ARBED offshoot called ''Companhia Siderúrgica Belgo-Mineira'' was established in Sabará,
Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literall ...
,
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, in 1921. As ARBED's growth continued, ARBED and ''Société Metallurgique des Terres Rouges'' finally merged in 1937. World War II severely affected steel production, and many steel mills were either destroyed or heavily damaged. Luxembourg had been officially absorbed into Germany, and ARBED was temporarily renamed ''Hüttenwerke Burbach-Eich-Dudelingen'' (Burbach-Eich-Dudelange Metallurgical Plants).


''"Les Trente Glorieuses"'' (1946–1974)

During the three decades following the end of World War II, ARBED played a key role in the development of the Luxembourg economy. During this period, called ''
Les Trente Glorieuses ''Les Trente Glorieuses'' (; 'The Glorious Thirty') was a thirty-year period of economic growth in France between 1945 and 1975, following the end of the Second World War. The name was first used by the French demographer Jean Fourastié, who ...
'' ("The Thirty Glorious"), national raw steel production rose from 2.45 million tonnes in 1950 to 6.45 million tonnes in 1974, and Luxembourg reached an exceptional annual growth rate of 6.7% between 1946 and 1951, then a good average of 3.9% until 1975. During the first half of the 1970s, the steel industry represented close to 30% of the total sum of added value in the national Luxembourg economy, and more than half the total added value of industry. By 1974, Luxembourg steelworks and iron mines provided work for around 25 000 employees in 1974 (16% of the total national). During these three decades, ARBED not only developed its local plants but also increased the diversification of its activities. In 1962, ARBED became a partner in the creation of the maritime SIDMAR complex in Belgium, and later obtained a majority stake in the new company. In 1974, ARBED created TrefilARBED, as part of the extension of wire drawing activities, and Samarco, created through the mining company Samitri to develop iron ore resources in Brazil. A powerful regional European economic actor, ARBED gradually became a global actor through the magnitude of its operations.


World economic crisis and restructuring (1975–2002)

The 1973 oil crisis and its global repercussions had a dramatic impact on Luxembourg and on ARBED in particular, as it coincided with worldwide global steel overproduction. Despite ARBED's international sales network's restructuring in 1976 (''Columeta'' was renamed ''TradeARBED'') and the establishment of ''TrefilARBED Korea'' in 1978, by 1983, steel production had slumped back to 1955 levels (3.2 million tonnes, compared with 6.45 million tonnes in 1974). By 1985, the steel industry employed only half of its 1974-level work force. In 1978 ARBED becomes a 25% shareholder in '' Métallurgique et Minière de Rodange-Athus'' (MMRA), mining and hot steel production is shut down and in 1994 MMRA merges with ''ARBED-Esch Schifflange'' (AES) to form ''Aciéries Rodange Esch-Schifflange'' (ARES) a subsidiary of ProfilARBED From 1982 to 1983, the Luxembourg steel industry was restructured and the Luxembourg government invested heavily in ARBED, finally owning 42.9% of the company's shares. Furthermore, during the following two decades, ARBED developed its international activities as well as its production of
long steel products In steel industry terminology long steel products or long products refers to steel products including wire, rod, rail, and bars as well as types of steel structural sections and girders. Overview The term long products may include hot rolled bar, c ...
(steel bars and rods produced for a variety of uses such as building and bridge construction) and
electric arc furnace An electric arc furnace (EAF) is a furnace that heats material by means of an electric arc. Industrial arc furnaces range in size from small units of approximately one-tonne capacity (used in foundries for producing cast iron products) up to ...
steel while reducing its domestic steel-producing operations. Certain key events in the economic expansion of ARBED occurred in the 1990s. In 1990, ARBED jointly acquired Yates, a U.S. company specialising in the production of
copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish ...
foil, with Japanese group Furukawa Electric. The following year, the Luxembourg company founded TrefilARBED Arkansas (USA), a steelcord plant in
Pine Bluff, Arkansas Pine Bluff is the eleventh-largest city in the state of Arkansas and the county seat of Jefferson County. It is the principal city of the Pine Bluff Metropolitan Statistical Area and part of the Little Rock- North Little Rock-Pine Bluff Combi ...
. In 1992, it founded long steel products company ''Stahlwerk Thüringen'' in Germany. In 1993, ARBED founded ProfilARBED, a subsidiary company specialized in the production of long steel products and ARBED Americas, a subsidiary of TradeARBED, in 1994, to manage all United States commercial activities. ARBED also expanded by taking over other companies; in 1995, it obtained the majority of shares of German ''
Klöckner Stahl ArcelorMittal Bremen is a steelworks on the banks of the River Weser in Bremen, Germany. An ironworks was established on the site in 1911 as ''Norddeutsche Hütte'' - much of the works was destroyed or dismantled during and immediately after the ...
'', now ''Stahlwerke Bremen'', and, in 1997, it developed a strategic partnership with Spanish steel company '' Aceralia'' (formerly ''CSI''). However, during this period of geographic expansion and division of sectors, the remaining Luxembourg blast furnaces gradually stopped operating, the last one, in Belval, definitely halting its operations in 1997.


Arcelor and ArcelorMittal (2002 onwards)

Despite the end of its Luxembourg steel production, ARBED remained a global economic actor. Its diversification and development of its international scope enabled ARBED to remain competitive. In 2002, ARBED and two other European steel-producing and manufacturing companies, Spanish strategic partner '' Aceralia'' and French '' Usinor'', merged into Arcelor. In 2006
Mittal Steel Mittal Steel Company N.V. was an Indian company and one of the world's largest steel producers by volume and turnover. After a merger in 2005, it is now part of ArcelorMittal. History Mittal Steel Company was formed as Ispat International in ...
launched a
takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to ...
for Arcelor that led to the creation of
ArcelorMittal ArcelorMittal S.A. is a Luxembourgian multinational steel manufacturing corporation headquartered in Luxembourg City. It was formed in 2006 from the takeover and merger of Arcelor by Indian-owned Mittal Steel. ArcelorMittal is the second la ...
..


See also

*
List of steel producers This is a list of the largest steel-producing companies in the world mostly based on the list by the World Steel Association. This list ranks steelmakers by volume of steel production in millions of tonnes and includes all steelmakers with product ...
* Steel industry in Luxembourg * Monique Scheier-Schneider, former company executive secretary


References


External links and further reading


ARBED
(Archive) * * *


External links

*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arbed Steel companies of Luxembourg Manufacturing companies established in 1911 Companies based in Luxembourg City ArcelorMittal Manufacturing companies disestablished in 2002 1911 establishments in Luxembourg 2002 disestablishments in Luxembourg