The incoming Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) presents an opportunity for traders and importers who can shield their customers from the administrative burden it brings, panellists said during the Kallanish Green Steel Strategies conference in Brussels.
Alexander Julius, managing partner at MacroMetal, said the policy “was not rocket science in principle” and his organisation already has data in hand from the initial reporting stage of CBAM started for scope 1 and scope 2 emissions. He said it was not a complicated issue but rather an additional burden to deal with.
Julius highlighted the transparent relationship he has with his suppliers and customers in the supply chain for this data. It is a potentially existential matter for some companies’ cross-border commerce, he noted.
“Do you want to survive in the future as a European importer or not?” Julius asks. “It’s a USP [unique selling point] actually. Many are capable, [but] they don’t want to do it. Our customers don’t want to have anything to do with [it]; they say we don’t care about CBAM and safeguards.”
Alessandro Fossati, managing director of Gamma Trade, shared this sentiment. “In the short term, it is an opportunity since importing is becoming harder,” he said.
However, Fossati warned that trade barriers are increasing and do not cover steel-containing manufactured products. “Nobody is taking care of manufacturers, end users. Since 2015, [there has been] a wall that every year is higher made of tariffs, now CBAM.”
CBAM and the safeguards “stimulate the imports of end products”, he said. “Killing [the] customers of mills is not the way to protect mills in the long term.”
Jordy Galvez, trade manager for southern Europe at Steelforce, said customers are worried about uncertainty, and the market needs to accept it and live with it.
“We can use this as an opportunity to provide extra service to our customers,” he noted. “CBAM is not fully clear, the safeguard is not fully clear.”
Gabriel Rozenberg, founder and chief executive at Cbamboo, commented: “The differential between high carbon and low carbon products will be massive … There will be this massive business advantage for some companies, disadvantage for others.”
Carrie Bone UK
