Worthington Targets Auto, Housing Sales Expansion in Asia, McConnell Says
July 22 (Bloomberg) -- John P. McConnell, chief executive officer of Worthington Industries Inc., talks with Bloomberg's Julie Hyman about demand for the company's products. McConnell also discusses the outlook for steel prices and Worthington's growth. Worthington is a steelmaker that gets 91 percent of its revenue in the U.S. (Source: Bloomberg)
Worthington Industries Inc., a steel fabricator that gets 91 percent of its revenue in the U.S., plans to expand in India and China to tap faster growth in auto and housing markets.
“We need to be focused more internationally in these emerging markets than we have been in the past,” John P. McConnell, chief executive officer of the Columbus, Ohio-based company, said today in an interview at Bloomberg headquarters in New York. “I hope that we grow it fairly rapidly.”
Worthington already exports to China such steel products as gas cylinders and precision auto parts, and the company is exploring joint ventures in the country, McConnell said.
Worthington opened a joint-venture plant in India this year that makes suspended ceiling systems and the company currently sells steel framing products to mid-rise hotel chains. The company’s cylinder unit, which makes containers for pressurized gases, is looking for expansion opportunities in India and Brazil, McConnell said.
Hot-rolled steel prices in the U.S. may continue to fall from the low $600 per ton level before rising to the high $600 level, McConnell said. The worst is over for domestic steel markets and the U.S. economy, he said.
Weak U.S. housing and construction markets prompted Worthington to shut about half its 27 metal framing plants, and only one-third have the potential to re-open as the company consolidates production to boost profitability, McConnell said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Jack Kaskey in New York at jkaskey@bloomberg.net; Debarati Roy in New York at droy5@bloomberg.net.
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