Nineteen steel-industry organizations released a statement calling to increase efforts to resolve the current global excess capacity in the steel sector.

Source: AISI

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Earlier this week, nineteen steel-industry organizations from the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe released a statement today calling for the governments of steelmaking economies to increase their efforts to resolve the current global excess capacity in the steel sector. These efforts include the implementation of rules and remedies that reduce excess capacity, its impact, and causes.

As stated in the release:

“The industry groups emphasized that governments should use all available mechanisms and negotiation forums, including the G20 Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity, to:

• Ensure the reduction of excess capacity;
• Eliminate market-distorting subsidies and other support measures that contribute to excess capacity;
• Uphold effective trade remedies to ensure a level playing-field driven by market forces;
• Support stronger international rules against subsidies and preferences to state-controlled enterprises;
• Enhance transparency and cooperation; and
• Create robust mechanisms to facilitate the exit of inefficient firms.”

Similarly, the statement reiterated the need to reduce capacity in certain steelmaking economies and urged members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Steel Committee to extend the G20 Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity beyond 2019. This comes in light of the September 30, 2019 statement by Ulf Zumkley, Chairman of the OECD Steel Committee, which raised concerns about the increase of steelmaking facilities in 2019, as well as its effects on excess capacity and trade relations.

While the groups behind the release are grateful for the efforts being made by the G20 and OECD governments to resolve these issues, they argue that current measures to create “effective reductions in capacity and concrete actions to remove government measures that distort markets, including raw materials markets” have not been effective to date.

As such, the industry groups suggest that efforts to eliminate the practices that create excess capacity should be redoubled, and urge members of the G20 and OECD economies to pursue strategies that will have effective results on the critical problem of steel excess capacity.

The industry groups issuing this call for action include members of:

• Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA)
• American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI)
• EUROFER (European Steel Association)
• Canadian Steel Producers Association (CSPA)
• CANACERO (the Mexican Steel Association)
• Alacero (the Latin American Steel Association)
• Brazil Steel Institute
• Turkish Steel Producers Association
• Republican Association of Mining and Metallurgical Enterprises (AMME)
• The Japan Iron and Steel Federation (JISF)
• European Steel Tube Association (ESTA)
• Korea Iron and Steel Association (KOSA)
• Specialty Steel Industry of North America (SSINA)
• South African Iron and Steel Institute (SAISI)
• The Cold Formed Steel Bar Institute (CFSBI)
• Association of Enterprises UKRMETALURGPROM (Ukraine)
• Russian Steel Association
• Indian Steel Association
• The Committee on Pipe and Tube Imports (CPTI)

 

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