The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development acts as an advocate for the steel industry’s stakeholders. With current conditions requiring action from governments, understanding the OECD’s significance on the industry is highly valuable.

Source: OECD

3-minute read

Last week, several groups in the steel industry released a statement urging the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Steel committee to implement more effective measures to combat the current excess capacity crisis in the steel industry. Similarly, its chairman, Ulf Zumkley, raised his concerns regarding the current uptick in steel production, given its effects on excess capacity and subsequent trade tensions.

Because of that, we want to take a deeper look into the OECD and its significance to the steel industry.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is an international organization that works to create better policies that foster prosperity, equality, opportunity and well-being for everyone. The organization works with governments, legislators, and citizens on developing and implementing international norms and solutions for social, economic, and environmental challenges.

The OECD Steel Committee is an international forum which allows governments to come together and address evolving challenges and opportunities in the global steel industry. Through this forum, the OECD looks to identify political solutions that will encourage open and transparent markets for steel. Furthermore, by encouraging competition under fair conditions, the OECD contributes to a more viable and sustainable steel industry, so that steel remains a big part of economic prosperity around the world.

As part of their work and advocacy for steel, the OECD Steel committee engages in:

• Steel market developments, such as the financial health of steelmaking companies, capacity trends, and regional updates of particular interest.
• Steel capacity issues, such as global excess capacity, and its impact on the industry’s viability.
• Environmental performance and the integration of efficiency technologies that help address climate change and sustainability.
• Trade policies, including export restrictions, quota, tariff and non-tariff measures on raw materials
• Industry viability and competitiveness
• Steel raw material markets, and governments’ increased attention to them as a integral part of countries’ domestic production.

In recent months, the OECD Steel Committee has shifted its focus to address:

• world steel market developments, including supply, demand, prices, and financial performance
• excess capacity in the industry, and the role of government interventions that address it.
• The development of policies that facilitate structural adjustment in the steel sector.
• Steel trade and policy.
• The role of state enterprises and government measures that influence steel markets, trade, and investment.

Currently, the OECD Steel Committee members and participants account for more than 40% if global steel production, and 75% of its global exports.

The committee includes members from: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Russian Federation, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union. Similarly, seven non-OECD members participate in the Committee’s meetings (Argentina, Bulgaria, Egypt, India, Malaysia, South Africa and Chinese Taipei)

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