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| Europe | |
| China steel surplus spills into EU | |
| 2007-11-14 | |
| Steel imports from China are flooding the European market at cut-rate prices, putting thousands of jobs in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the rest of Europe at risk. That’s the contention of the European Confederation of Iron and Steel Industries, known as Eurofer, which filed a formal complaint with the European Union last week. The European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, now has until mid-December to decide whether to launch a formal investigation into Eurofer’s allegations. Steel imports from China to the EU grew 137 percent to 8.9 million metric tons from January to September this year, compared with the same period last year, according to EU statistics. Meanwhile, imports of metallurgic products from China to the Czech Republic have quadrupled within the past year, whereas exports from the Czech Republic to EU countries have stagnated at 3 million tons. The worldwide price for a ton of steel ranges between $600 ($32) and $850, and Czech prices mirror those. Chinese prices sit well below that, according to the HŽ. The Chinese prices have been fueled by generous state subsidies, Eurofer said. In response, it is seeking anti-dumping duties on stainless steel cold-rolled flat products from China (along with South Korea and Taiwan) as well as hot-dipped sheet and strip originating in China. Not all European companies agree with Eurofer’s complaint. Trade association Orgalime, which represents engineering industries in Brussels, defended its members’ rights to choose suppliers as they saw fit. Eurofer’s complaint is a bit of an about-face for the European steel industry, which for years has criticized the United States for abusing anti-dumping legislation to protect its steel industry. But such redress is necessary for truly fair competition, said U.S. Steel Košice, a Slovak subsidiary of the multinational. “We strongly believe that the Eurofer action goes toward fair competition in Europe,” said Ján Baèa, spokesman for the steelworks. “The economically irrational growth of Chinese steel capacities driven by state intervention is problematic.” While the Eurofer complaint is only the first act in what promises to be a protracted epic, the EU’s trade commissioner, Peter Mandelson, has already expressed sympathy for the industry’s plight.
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| Posted by:lotp |