The pressure on the European steel value chain demands faster action than EU decision-making currently affords, with rising volumes of processed products imports a particular concern, says EUROMETAL.
The distributor and processor association has launched a call to action directed at the European Commission and all member countries, supported by 300 signatures representing stakeholders across the entire value chain.
Effective and immediately applicable trade measures are needed now, aligned with those already implemented by, for example, the United States and Canada, the association urges.
At a press conference on the sidelines of the Wire + Tube trade fair in Düsseldorf on Tuesday, EUROMETAL president Alexander Julius highlighted the slowness of processes within European politics, whereas the current critical pressure on European companies demands swift action, the “Trumpish” way. “We cannot wait another one or two years,” Kallanish heard him say at the conference.
The initiative was started in March last year with an initial visit to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, said Georgios Giovanakis, chief sales officer of thyssenkrupp Steel. He was accompanied on the visit by Heino Buddenberg, chief executive of cold-roller Wälzholz, and Markus Fix of service centre DM Stahl, all of which also sat on Tuesday’s press conference panel.
While measures like CBAM point in the right direction, they are too complicated and slow in taking effect, the panellists warned. The current catalogue of measures also needs to reach further downstream the value chain, to cover all products made of steel. “The chain breaks at the weakest part,” said Fix. “And the chain can be pretty long, reaching over five or six stages.”
One important aspect they pointed out to the Commission was the danger to European independence of not defending its manufacturing industries. Julius referred to recent wars and the associated trade conflicts, warning that Europe becoming dependent on other countries would leave it vulnerable if they decided to restrict supply.
He also pointed out that the old logic of international free trade no longer applies. Economists in former times did not foresee that one nation would produce hundreds of millions of tonnes of steel more than it needs, and would pull down prices internationally in order to find markets, he said.
Author: Christian Koehl
