SMS AG, an association of worldwide leading companies in the smelting, rolling, press and forging and plastic technology sectors, which employs a total of about 9,700 people, saw order inflows of 2,117 million EUR and achieved a turnover of 2,239 million EUR in the business year 2001. For the first time in its history this represented a loss of about 9 million EUR before taxes (compared with a surplus of 67 million EUR in the business year 1999/2000). According to Heinrich Weiss, Chairman of the Board of SMS AG, speaking at the balance-sheet press conference, this was because last year the world market volume for smelting and rolling mill technology fell by a third, while the American market for plant and machinery in the plastics sector virtually collapsed.
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