EU wire rod interest group establishes technical committee

Eunirpa, the European Non-Integrated Wire Rod Processors Association, has announced that it has established a technical committee on product standards.

The association was founded last year in protest of Eurofer’s efforts to have imports of wire rod to the EU possibly banned. Such a move would be only in the interest of the vertically integrated EU mills and would lead to shortages with drastic consequences for independent processors, the wire rod group argues.

Eunirpa says it is pleased about the results achieved in 2016. Its members have been fighting successfully to secure the right to continue to source mesh grade wire rod from independent producers around the world, it says. “One of the main goals of Eunirpa is to ensure that the EU wire rod market can keep operating in accordance with the principles of fair competition,” the association‘s president,  Kris Van Ginderdeuren, tells Kallanish.

However, he notes that there is no time to be complacent.  Technical barriers, such as the improper use of product standards, are of critical concern to members, which have decided to set up an ambitious action plan in this respect.

“Fair competition in our industry is not only threatened by the closing of the EU borders to imports through unfair anti-dumping action, but also by the creation of technical barriers through the improper use of product standards, both at national and supra-national levels.” At its meeting in Warsaw on Thursday, Eunirpa has decided to establish a technical committee which will draw up an action plan for product standards assessment.