Business area Europe

Europe is our biggest business area and serves the EMEA market, where our customers rely on our technical expertise. We are the market leader in Europe. Besides Europe, our sales and service center network covers Europe, Middle-East, Africa and Asia-Pacific, where we export high value-added products.
Page last updated: 10.06.2025

Our customers include both distributors and end-users. The product performance and technical expertise that our customers have come to expect from us have their roots in over 100 years of innovation in stainless steel. Our R&D experts in Finland, Germany and Sweden help our customers in material selection, technical support and product development.

In Europe, Outokumpu is serving its customers in two business lines according to the customer needs. Stainless Europe focuses on customers that are supplied large quantities of our cost competitive sustainable stainless steel, while Advanced Materials serves project business and the manufacturers of demanding applications by advanced products and alloys.

Market leader in Europe with 31% share

With sales of 4,102 million euros in 2024, business area Europe brings 68% of our net sales, and we are the market leader in the European cold rolled stainless steel market. 

Sustainable stainless steel

Sustainable stainless steel operations are the foundation of our business, and we have a unique blend of sustainability, cost leadership and customer excellence.  

Advanced materials and alloys

We accelerate growth by expanding into high-margin, high-value grades and differentiate through customer collaboration, building on our strong legacy in special grades..

Lowest carbon footprint in the industry

We have the lowest carbon footprint in the industry, up to 75% lower than the global average. On top of that, we introduced Circle Green, which has up to 93% lower carbon footprint. 

Stala

Sustainable stainless steel

In sustainable stainless steel operations in Europe, Outokumpu combines unmatched cost competitiveness, sustainability of our products, highest level of reliability and quality to a unique customer experience. Sustainable stainless steel is a material used in numerous different industries, including home applications, automotive, construction, infrastructure and industrial investments.

Outokumpu plans to invest approximately EUR 200 million in a new annealing and pickling line in Tornio, Finland. It will maximize the benefits from the fully integrated, cost-efficient operations in Tornio and Nordic clean and price competitive energy. At the same time, we are fighting cyclicality of the industry through optimization and operational excellence.

Furthermore, we will remain to be the undisputed sustainability leader in our industry, providing products with the lowest CO2 footprint in the industry, allowing our customers in turn to reduce their footprint. The availability of affordable clean energy in Finland, our unique access to clean ferrochrome from our inhouse operations and a continued high usage of scrap as our prime raw material mean that we have a unique position. This sustainability position we can further develop through smart decarbonization projects that drive innovation and allow us to develop own business models connecting partners around our main production entities towards smart decarbonization. 

Satellite

Advanced materials

In advanced materials and alloys, Outokumpu provides industrial end-users and fabricators with tailored stainless and nickel-based alloy solutions for demanding environments. By combining deep application expertise, flexible production, and a low-carbon footprint, we deliver products that optimize durability, performance, and lifecycle cost — from supply chain to end use — through deep customer understanding and specialty, high-quality supply.

As global megatrends such as urbanization, mobility, digitalization, and the transition to a low-carbon economy accelerate, the demand for high-performance materials is growing steadily. Specialty stainless steels and high-nickel alloys are increasingly essential in enabling solutions for these megatrends that require durability, corrosion resistance, and superior performance in demanding environments found in the process industry, oil and gas, and electric vehicles, for example. 

Outokumpu is now looking for growth by expanding into high-margin, high-value grades and differentiating through customer collaboration, building on our strong legacy in special grades and moving actively away from commodity products. Advanced materials and alloys play a central role in reducing cyclicality and driving profitable growth.

World-class mills with clear roles

Our world-class mills form an integrated entity in which each mill has a clear, defined role in the production. Our Tornio mill in Finland, Krefeld mill in Germany, and our finishing unit in Terneuzen, the Netherlands focus on the high-volume products, while advanced products are manufactured at our mills in Avesta, Degerfors, and Nyby in Sweden as well as Dillenburg in Germany, In addition, we have a metal powder plant in Krefeld, Germany. 

Our mills in Europe

Avesta, Sweden
Degerfors, Sweden
Dillenburg, Germany
Krefeld, Germany
Nyby, Sweden
Terneuzen, The Netherlands (Service center)
Tornio, Finland