On 10th to the 12th of November, the seventh International Stainless and Special Steel Summit was held in Mirabella, Spain, with representatives of Dneprospetsstal taking part.

The biggest benefit of this event is the opportunity to gain first-hand information. Top people from such world leaders as Schmolz+Bickenbach group, Bohler, Sheffield Forgingmaster, Outokumpu shared their observations on the situation in the market-place. A drop in demand for steel products has affected them also. Companies have developed various strategies for dealing with the crisis, including: optimizing work-fork force numbers and shortening work hours, reducing purchasing and production volumes for price boosting purposes.

Opinions on when the situation will stabilize vary. Many manufacturers believe that the decline will continue through the first and second quarters of 2009 and that production output will not increase until 2011. "Good times are not as good as they seem. The same goes for bad times", thinks Marcus Moll, head analyst of "Steel and Metals Market Research". In his opinion the situation in the most metal-consuming industries will have stabilized by the third - fourth quarters of next year. The drop in the energy industry is minor. Consumer goods manufacturers have a certain reserve of strength remaining. Companies in the auto and processing industries will take longer than others to recover from the crisis but, by the end of 2009, they will be also able to regain their positions.