The coronavirus pandemic caused a global downturn in the steel industry--also felt by Luxembourg steelmaker ArcelorMittal, which saw shipments drop by nearly fifth in 2020 compared to 2019.

Despite lockdowns in the early months of the pandemic last year, Paul Wurth was able to catch up on demand later in the year, the company said. “The order intake of the group finally reached €393m at the end of the year, which is only 7.7% down on 2019’s volume,” it said in a statement. Turnover was €403.7m, in what the company called a “resilient performance”.

Paul Wurth is set to become a centre of excellence for green steel and decarbonisation of the steel industry under the full ownership of SMS Group. The German outfit in April finalised the acquisition of a 40.8% stake in Paul Wurth owned by the Luxembourg state.

The state had entered the company to give it a lifeline in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, but explaining the divestment said the industry’s situation has since changed.

SMS is planning on regrouping research on decarbonisation and steel recycling in Luxembourg. “With this step, Luxembourg will become a global innovation centre for metallurgy and hydrogen technology within SMS Group,” Paul Wurth said in its annual results statement.

“Promising exchanges with leading players along the entire metal production chain, such as Rio Tinto in Canada, CAP in Chile, ArcelorMittal in France, Dillinger in Germany or NLMK in Russia, resulted for Paul Wurth in a number of partnership agreements and contracts aimed at evaluating the feasibility of green H2-based steelmaking,” the company said.

It has also set up a partnership with the University of Luxembourg to fund research on energy process engineering, including research on hydrogen and carbon neutral industrial processing.

Paul Wurth is also taking part in the Norsk e-Fuel joint venture, a plan to develop Europe’s first commercial plant for hydrogen based renewable aviation fuel in Norway, as well as other hydrogen projects in the Netherlands and Austria.

“Thanks to this strategic positioning, the company is well-fitted to tackle the challenges ahead and confident that the Paul Wurth brand will remain synonymous worldwide for innovative, performant and sustainable solutions,” the company said on 11 May.