G20 Nations Pledge to Address Excess Steel Capacity
09/06/2016 - Leaders at the G-20 summit in China have agreed to create a group that will promote discussion and cooperation amongst nations on the world’s excess steelmaking capacity.
Meeting 4 and 5 September in the provincial capital of Hangzhou, the leaders of the Group of 20 nations agreed that excess capacity is a global problem and will require global solutions. They also agreed that government support can cause market distortions and is an issue that also needs to be addressed.
Given that, they said they’ve committed to sharing information and to encouraging market adjustment through the international body.
The group will be housed within the Organization for Co-operation and Economic Development and is to report back on its progress next year.
Separately, the White House said that as the group is formed, it will continue “its efforts to address many of the trade-related challenges in the global steel industry.”
“This includes enforcing 160 anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders on steel and steel-related products, tracking U.S. and global steel trade flows, working to address evasion of anti-dumping and countervailing duties and upholding U.S. rights under trade agreements.”
Steelmakers in Europe, North and South America said in a joint statement that they are glad the issue was addressed during the summit, but said they remain cautiously optimistic that meaningful reforms will come about.
“This is an important first step, but it must be followed with concrete policy actions by governments to reduce excess capacity, end subsidies and government measures that distort markets, and guarantee a level playing field driven by market forces in the near term,” they said in the statement.
“Our industry is at a crossroads. Governments must take action or we will remain in crisis,” they added.
China has largely has taken the brunt of criticism for the problem, but the G20 statement didn’t single out any one country.
However, an industry-sponsored study by the Duke University Center Globalization, Governance & Competitiveness, and released just before the summit noted that the country has added 552 million metric tons of capacity since 2007
China, in fact, accounted for 46 percent of the world’s excess capacity in 2015, the study concluded.
Given that, they said they’ve committed to sharing information and to encouraging market adjustment through the international body.
The group will be housed within the Organization for Co-operation and Economic Development and is to report back on its progress next year.
Separately, the White House said that as the group is formed, it will continue “its efforts to address many of the trade-related challenges in the global steel industry.”
“This includes enforcing 160 anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders on steel and steel-related products, tracking U.S. and global steel trade flows, working to address evasion of anti-dumping and countervailing duties and upholding U.S. rights under trade agreements.”
Steelmakers in Europe, North and South America said in a joint statement that they are glad the issue was addressed during the summit, but said they remain cautiously optimistic that meaningful reforms will come about.
“This is an important first step, but it must be followed with concrete policy actions by governments to reduce excess capacity, end subsidies and government measures that distort markets, and guarantee a level playing field driven by market forces in the near term,” they said in the statement.
“Our industry is at a crossroads. Governments must take action or we will remain in crisis,” they added.
China has largely has taken the brunt of criticism for the problem, but the G20 statement didn’t single out any one country.
However, an industry-sponsored study by the Duke University Center Globalization, Governance & Competitiveness, and released just before the summit noted that the country has added 552 million metric tons of capacity since 2007
China, in fact, accounted for 46 percent of the world’s excess capacity in 2015, the study concluded.
