At the 18th European Economic Congress 2026 in Katowice, Piotr Sikorski, EUROMETAL Board Member and President of the Polska Unia Dystrybutorów i Przetwórców Stali (PUDS), delivered a compelling intervention during the session dedicated to the iron and steel industry. His message was clear and urgent: Europe must rethink its approach to the steel market and move decisively to protect the entire value chain, not just isolated segments.
Framing the steel market as a “connected vessels system,” Sikorski emphasised that all actors—steel producers, distributors, processors and end-users—are deeply interdependent. Pressures affecting one part of the system inevitably ripple across the whole. In this context, he pointed to the growing structural imbalance between global steelmaking capacity and actual production, recalling that excess capacity reached around 650 million tonnes in 2025, with further expansion expected in Asia and the Middle East. At the same time, Europe’s share in global steel and metal production continues to decline, reflecting a steady erosion of competitiveness.
According to Sikorski, this loss of competitiveness is driven by a combination of high energy costs, regulatory uncertainty and an increasingly complex legislative environment. European producers and downstream industries face costs that are significantly higher than those of their global competitors, while the policy framework continues to evolve without providing sufficient predictability. Beyond supply-side challenges, he warned that regulation is now also weighing on demand, further weakening the industrial ecosystem.
While apparent steel consumption has shown some resilience in recent years, the underlying reality is far more concerning. Key industrial sectors such as automotive, machinery and household appliances are experiencing negative dynamics, signalling a deeper structural shift. Sikorski underlined that this is not simply a cyclical downturn but the result of a profound transformation of the market, driven by the rapid increase in imports of steel-containing products. Over the past fifteen years, imports of items such as steel cables, chassis and components for air conditioning systems have surged dramatically, particularly in Poland but also across the European Union. This trend highlights how international competitors are increasingly targeting downstream segments, effectively bypassing traditional trade defence measures focused on primary steel products.
This development lies at the heart of Sikorski’s call to action. Existing instruments, including anti-dumping measures, safeguards and CBAM, are largely designed to protect upstream production. However, when exporters shift towards semi-finished or finished goods with high steel content, these tools lose their effectiveness. The result is growing pressure on European manufacturers, distributors and processors, who find themselves competing with imported products that fall outside the scope of current protections.
For EUROMETAL and PUDS, the conclusion is straightforward. Europe must adopt a comprehensive, value chain approach to steel policy. Protection mechanisms need to be extended to downstream products, ensuring that all parts of the ecosystem operate on a level playing field. The objective is not only to safeguard steel production, but also to preserve the industrial base that depends on it. Without such an approach, the risk is clear: protecting one segment of the market while allowing others to weaken ultimately undermines the entire system.
Sikorski acknowledged that a number of policy tools are already on the table at European level, including CBAM, the Net-Zero Industry Act and emerging discussions on local content requirements. However, these initiatives remain fragmented and do not yet fully address the challenges facing downstream sectors. What is needed now is greater coherence, better implementation and a clear recognition that demand-side measures are as important as supply-side support.
In his closing remarks, Sikorski delivered a powerful reminder of what is at stake. Europe may succeed in producing the greenest steel in the world, but without a strong and competitive customer base, that steel will have no market. Distributors, processors and manufacturing industries must therefore be placed at the centre of the transition. Protecting the steel value chain in its entirety is not only an industrial necessity; it is a strategic imperative for Europe’s economic resilience and autonomy.
