Steel Associations Urge China to Continue Discussing Global Excess Capacity
05/09/2016 - Ten steel associations in North and South America and Europe said they are disappointed that China declined to commit to further action on its excess steelmaking capacity, but are urging the country to be involved in future conversations on the topic.
In a joint statement addressing last month’s steel summit in Belgium, the associations said that they had hoped the meeting would have ended with some broad commitments.
“We did not expect to solve the crisis in one meeting; however, we did hope that the governments of all major steel producing nations would be able to make commitments on a set of principles and agree to work together to help address the crisis. Despite consensus among many countries who participated, China’s lack of support prevented a broad agreement on these commitments,” they wrote.
The associations said the Brussels summit, held by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, was a step in the right direction and urged the Chinese government to “constructively participate in future discussions at the OECD and elsewhere to address the global steel overcapacity crisis.”
According to the associations, eight of the countries represented concurred that they must refrain from providing support to unprofitable mills or encourage investment in new, long-shot steel projects. While China agreed that excess capacity is a problem, it said it is a shared problem globally and said it was already doing its part to cut it.
“We did not expect to solve the crisis in one meeting; however, we did hope that the governments of all major steel producing nations would be able to make commitments on a set of principles and agree to work together to help address the crisis. Despite consensus among many countries who participated, China’s lack of support prevented a broad agreement on these commitments,” they wrote.
The associations said the Brussels summit, held by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, was a step in the right direction and urged the Chinese government to “constructively participate in future discussions at the OECD and elsewhere to address the global steel overcapacity crisis.”
According to the associations, eight of the countries represented concurred that they must refrain from providing support to unprofitable mills or encourage investment in new, long-shot steel projects. While China agreed that excess capacity is a problem, it said it is a shared problem globally and said it was already doing its part to cut it.
