Strategic steps for Steel: EU to outline long-term industry measures
On March 19, the EU plans to present an Action Plan on Steel and Metals, which will include additional sector-specific priority actions. This is stated in the report of the European Commission (EC) on the results of the Strategic Dialogue on Steel.
In addition, the plan will contain long-term steps to replace trade remedies that expire in June 2026. The document will also address a wide range of issues related to the industry, such as ensuring the commercial viability of clean steel production and responding to unfair trade practices.
The plan will include the results of a strategic dialogue with key representatives of the sector, which took place on March 4 under the chairmanship of EC President Ursula von der Leyen.
The strategic dialogue with the EC President brought together steel sector leaders and industry associations.
The European Steel Industry Association (Eurofer) welcomed the initiative. Eurofer CEO Axel Eggert said: “We are grateful that the Commission – at the very highest level – not only recognises these challenges but wants to work with our industry to find the right solutions».
The association continues to push for decisive action in four priority areas – trade defence measures, watertight CBAM, competitive energy prices and scrap retention in Europe.
Alexander Julius, President of EUROMETAL, which represents European steel, pipe and steel product distributors, emphasized during the dialogue that fair competition remains a crucial factor for the steel industry, and it is important for the EU to create a level playing field for the sector. In his opinion, this can be achieved by extending safeguard measures to semi-finished and finished products, which currently enter the bloc without hindrance. In addition, support for distribution, processing and manufacturing in the EU is important to stimulate innovation and create a basis for sustainable industrial activity, given Europe’s position between the US and China.
EUROMETAL also confirmed its willingness to actively participate in the CBAM working group.
As GMK Center reported earlier, on February 26, the European Commission presented the Clean Industry Agreement, a plan to support the competitiveness and future of manufacturing industries in Europe. The document positions decarbonization as a powerful driver for industrial growth. The Commission is also taking steps to make the regulatory environment more efficient, while reducing bureaucratic obstacles to business.
EUROMETAL: Semi-finished and finished products need to be included in protective measures for level playing field
The European Federation of Associations of Steel, Tube and Metal Distributors (EUROMETAL) has made some evaluations during the Strategic Dialogue on Steel hosted on March 4 by Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, bringing together key industry leaders to address the future of the European steel industry.
EUROMETAL stated that fair competition is vital for the steel industry. Yet, given that 7.4 million people are employed in the industry, it is also significant to create a level playing field, which can be ensured by including import semi-finished and finished products that are flowing to the EU without any limitations in protective measures. Since Europe is located between the US and China, boosting its distribution, processing and manufacturing is even more crucial to promote innovation and to provide a basis for sustainable industrial activities, EUROMETAL said.
Additionally, the federation also reiterated its intention to actively participate in the working group of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, ensuring that regulations are realistic for EU declarants.
EUROMETAL joins European Commission’s Strategic Dialogue on Steel
The European steel sector took center stage as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen launched the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of the Steel Sector. The high-level meeting gathered key industry leaders, social partners, and stakeholders, including EUROMETAL President Alexander Julius, to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the European steel supply chain.
A critical moment for European Steel
President von der Leyen opened the dialogue by emphasizing the historic and strategic importance of steel to the European Union, stating:
“Our European Union was built on a community of coal and steel. Steel is everywhere, from wind power to defence. But European steelmakers are at a crossroads, facing the challenges of necessary decarbonisation and partly unfair global competition. Today’s Dialogue is to lead to a tailored plan to help this sector decarbonise and thrive globally. We join forces to make a strong business case for steel made in Europe.”
The dialogue acknowledged that while steel production remains a cornerstone of European industry, the sector is under significant pressure due to high energy costs, global overcapacity, and declining product prices. These challenges have impacted investment in clean steel technologies, which are essential for the sector’s decarbonisation efforts.
Key outcomes of the Steel Dialogue
This first session laid the groundwork for future policy actions, reinforcing the importance of collaboration between industry and policymakers. Discussions were closely aligned with the Clean Industrial Deal, adopted in February, which aims to: lower energy costs for energy-intensive industries, create lead markets for low-carbon steel and accelerate investments through financial support exceeding €100 billion for clean manufacturing in the EU.
The dialogue will contribute to the development of a Steel and Metals Action Plan, which will outline sector-specific priority actions and long-term measures to replace current trade defence safeguard measures expiring in June 2026. The plan will focus on ensuring clean steel production is commercially viable, developing a strong response to unfair trading practices and identifying sustainable long-term solutions to safeguard the European steel market.
EUROMETAL’s Role and Key Priorities
As the representative body for European steel distributors, traders, and service centers, EUROMETAL played a pivotal role in ensuring that the concerns of steel distribution and processing were heard. EUROMETAL President Alexander M. Julius participated in the discussions, advocating for:
- A level playing field for steel users and manufacturers.
- Inclusion of finished and semi-finished products under protective trade measures.
- Stronger support for EU steel distribution, processing, and manufacturing to drive innovation and ensure sustainable industrial activities.
- A more inclusive approach in the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to facilitate compliance and secure fair competition.
The road to the Steel and Metals Action Plan
Following this Strategic Dialogue, Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné has been tasked with presenting the Action Plan on Steel and Metals on 19 March 2025. This plan will define the next steps for policymakers and industry stakeholders, with regular involvement from the European Parliament and the Council.
EUROMETAL remains committed to actively engaging in this process to ensure that the voice of steel distributors, traders, and service centers is represented in shaping the future of European steel.
The Strategic Dialogue gathered top industry stakeholders, including: EUROMETAL, EUROFER, ESPA, EURIC, Euromines, FIEC, Agora Industry, WindEurope, ACEA, ArcelorMittal, Tata Steel Europe, ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe, Salzgitter, Riva-Stahl, Outokumpu, Celsa Group, Feralpi, Stegra, Zeliziarne Podbrezova, IndustriAll and GravitHy.
EUROMETAL President’s reactions after Steel Dialogue
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hosted today the Strategic Dialogue on Steel, bringing together key industry leaders to address the future of Europe’s steel sector. EUROMETAL President Alexander M. Julius participated in the discussions, ensuring the voice of steel distributors and service centers was heard on critical industry challenges.
EUROMETAL emphasized that fair competition remains crucial for the steelmaking sector. However, considering the 7.4 million people employed in the manufacturing of steel and metal-based products in the EU, it is equally important to create a level playing field for this sector. This can be achieved by extending protective measures to semi-finished and finished products, which currently enter the EU without any barriers. Given Europe’s position between the USA and China, supporting EU distribution, processing, and manufacturing is even more essential to foster innovation and establish a foundation for sustainable industrial activities.
In a subsequent discussion with European Commissioners, EUROMETAL also reiterated its desire to actively participate in a CBAM working group. This initiative would help the European Commission ensure that regulations are feasible for EU declarants, thereby maintaining a reliable service for the EU steel-using industry.
European Commission schedules Steel Dialogue, reinforces strategic role
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will host a Strategic Dialogue on Steel on 4 March, Kallanish notes.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Commission reinforced that steel is a strategic sector, saying it plays a central role in the EU’s broader strategic autonomy.
The meeting is anticipated to bring together steel manufacturers, raw material suppliers, off-takers, and representatives of social partners and civil society. EUROMETAL will be represented by its president, Alexander Julius, the association says.
This comes ahead of the dedicated Steel and Metals Action, which Executive Vice-President Séjourné has been tasked with delivering in the spring. Feedback from the Steel Dialogue and related wider consultation will be fed into this dedicated plan.
“The steel industry is a key sector of our European single market. At the same time this industry is of utmost importance in our fight against climate change,” von der Leyen notes. “The Strategic Dialogue will help develop a concrete Action Plan to tackle the unique challenges of this sector in the clean industrial transition. We want to ensure that the European steel industry is both competitive and sustainable in the long-term.”
“Europe has a plan for its industry: we must produce more, we must produce clean, and we must produce European,” says Séjourné. “This starts with our most strategic sectors: steel is one of them. We must protect our steel sector from unfair foreign competition and boost our own production of clean European steel.”
Key Strategic Dialogue discussion points will include how to enhance competitiveness and circularity, drive the clean transition, decarbonisation, and electrification, ensure fair trade relations and an international level playing field. The Commission will inform and consult with the Council and European Parliament throughout the Dialogue process.
Proposals include the joint purchasing of raw materials on behalf of interested companies, which could ensure diversification of supplies, and a Circular Economy Act to incentivise the use of secondary scrap material in manufacturing. Also discussed will be the use of guarantees and risk reduction instruments to facilitate conclusion of long-term power purchase agreements, and to accelerate the uptake of hydrogen.
To speed up investment, the meeting will also discuss the creation of a dedicated financing mechanism for industrial decarbonisation based on the auctions-as-a-service model.
On the foreign trade front, global overcapacity is expected to reach 630 million tonnes in 2026. This means “it is essential to make more efficient use of anti-dumping or anti-subsidy duties to prevent that our market becomes an export destination for state-induced excess steel production,” the Commission says.
In addition, the safeguard measures for steel currently in place are set to expire by June 2026. The Commission will define a long-term solution to replace those measures in light of global non-market overcapacity, it concludes.
Adam Smith Poland
EUROMETAL gives EC input on ongoing steel safeguard measure review
European steel distribution and trading association EUROMETAL President Alexander Julius has written to the European Commission Jan. 10 asking for a couple of changes and some clarification on the ongoing functional review of the EU safeguard measures on steel imports initiated in December.
On Dec. 17, the EC announced a review of the safeguard measures applicable to imports of certain steel products with the aim of reassessing the allocation and management of tariff rate quotas to ensure they align with current market dynamics and stakeholder interests.
In the letter addressed to European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services Stephane Sejourne, Executive Vice-President of the EC for the European Green Deal Maros Sefcovic and European Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis, Julius requested that the EC extend the deadline for questionnaire submissions from Jan. 10.
He said the Jan. 10 deadline was too restrictive due to the recent holiday season and requested the EC extend the deadline to allow sufficient time for all interested parties to participate fully in the review process.
“Many of our members and stakeholders face significant challenges in gathering the necessary data and preparing their submissions within the given time frame,” he wrote.
Julius also asked for harmonization of customs rules across member states, saying that divergences in customs rules across member states often resulted in inconsistent and incorrect declarations, creating unnecessary administrative burdens and an unequal treatment of European importers.
“We propose that the review addresses the need for harmonized customs procedures across the EU to ensure fair and consistent application of the measures, in order to assess in this respect a level playing field,” he wrote.
EUROMETAL also requested clarification on the definition of EU users within the context of the safeguard measures review, asking whether it included the distribution segment, such as service centres, stockholders, and traders.
Julius said the sector played a pivotal role in supplying 60% of all steel products to end-users and a clear and consistent definition was “crucial to ensure that all relevant stakeholders are appropriately recognized and accounted for in the review process.”
He told the commissioners that EUROMETAL also supported Eurofer’s proposal for the EC to organize a Steel Summit, as it would provide an invaluable platform for stakeholders to engage in discussions about the current challenges facing the steel sector.
Julius said the challenges include “those related to the safeguard measures, and to collaboratively identify solutions that serve the interests of the entire steel value chain.”
We are more than happy to actively participate in this initiative, as we firmly believe that interaction with all our stakeholders is crucial to developing sustainable European manufacturing and steel industry supply chains,” he wrote, saying EUROMETAL remained committed to contributing to essential dialogues.
He said these considerations were vital for ensuring that the revised safeguard measures remain well-aligned with market realities and the interests of all stakeholders in the EU steel sector.
“EUROMETAL stands ready to contribute to the ongoing discussions and provide further evidence or insights,” Julius wrote.
As of Jan. 10, Vietnam, Japan and Taiwan have exhausted the EU’s tariff-rate quota (TRQ) system for hot-rolled coil imports, as per official EC data.
In contrast, 38% of Egypt’s quota is still available. Meanwhile, countries like Australia, Switzerland, the US, Canada, and Libya have not yet utilized their first-quarter quotas, maintaining 100% availability.
Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed domestic HRC prices in Northern Europe at Eur560/mt ex-works Ruhr Jan. 9, down 19% since the start of 2024.
CBAM ‘bureaucratic monster’ but ‘right’ tool
The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is a “bureaucratic monster” with flaws, but also a well-intended tool, panellists said during the Kallanish Green Steel Strategies event in Brussels on Wednesday.
“It’s a bureaucratic monster,” asserted Alexander Julius, managing partner of distributor macroMETAL and EUROMETAL Presidency member.
Christoph Zinsser, head of project finance at Stegra, agreed with the definition of “monster”. He also however noted the need to stay on course for the scheme. “The biggest challenge is if uncertainty comes into this, a risk of regulation changing frequently – that would be the worst outcome, from our perspective,” he noted.
Panellists nevertheless saw it as the right tool for the task of keeping carbon-intensive steel out of the EU, but they called for changes to be made to expand the scope of products covered.
“It’s the right tool; it needs development over many years to come … There is a lot of work still to be done,” Zinsser said.
Julius warned that instead of CBAM-levied steel being shipped to the EU, steel-consuming final goods are arriving instead. “The only problem is … ready made products are entering the EU; carbon leakage is not today active, but those products are coming without regulations and without the bureaucratic environment. Those products are not under the HS codes considered by the European commission,” he said.
“If we want to avoid carbon leakage, which is a good idea, we need the protection, we need to go the whole road down. We need to also grab every single product in the value chain so that we are creating a level playing field for European manufacturing; otherwise, we are sacrificing [it],” he added. He called for coverage of the majority of HS codes in the value chain.
Zinsser also noted flaws in the mechanism, and the need for scope expansion.
“The practice [trial phase] will ultimately show all of the flaws that there undoubtedly still are,” he said.
Josu Piña Bilbao, director of business development at SSAB Europe, also agreed with calls for the scope to be extended but noted positives to the scheme.
“CBAM has sparked the investment of low-emissions steel in other regions, outside of Europe, especially countries which are interested to export to Europe. We will see a change in trade flows,” he noted.
He also touched on the topic of the potential of rebates for companies exporting from Europe, who were facing higher production costs and therefore not a level playing field.
“We are all waiting for [CBAM], so that there will be a level playing field after 2026, when importers will have to pay,” he added.
Meanwhile, Julius also noted that European producers still have their free allowances which, in most cases, should be valid past 2030, which means their carbon costs are basically not existent.
He added that CBAM will also change import flows, referring to countries such as Turkey which are 70% EAF based and therefore have an advantage when it comes to supplying the EU.
Carrie Bone UK
