World Steel Association Chairman: Europe Has Too Much Steelmaking Capacity
11/16/2015 - Europe has too much steelmaking capacity, and the industry likely will have to lop half of it over the next 15 years, World Steel Association chairman Wolfgang Eder told The (London) Telegraph newspaper.
"The problem in Europe is that there is too much capacity," Eder said during an interview with the newspaper. “We need to bring down capacity as a precondition for a solid base in the long run."
The European industry has a capacity of around 200 million to 210 million metric tons, the newspaper said. Eder said a decline is inevitable, given market conditions.
As are other steelmakers throughout the world, European producers are under pressure from a barrage low-cost Chinese imports. U.K. steelmakers have been especially hard hit as more than 5,000 steel jobs have been lost this year. They are also under pressure from high energy costs, according to the newspaper.
Eder said the U.K. crisis is a "negative role model" for the wider European industry as it struggles under a "cost structure that is not commercially competitive in the long run.”
European steelmakers have been calling for government intervention to stem the flood of imports, and at least one Parliament member has said the U.K. ought to nationalize parts of its steel industry.
“If the Italian government can take a public stake to maintain their steel industry, so can we,” said U.K. Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn on 13 November, according to The Yorkshire Post newspaper.
“That’s why Labour will be pressing (U.K. Prime Minister David) Cameron to use the powers we have to intervene and, if necessary, take a strategic stake in steel - to save jobs and restructure the industry,” Corbyn said.
Corbyn said Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne need to act as decisively on steel as the government did in 2008, when it partly nationalized two banks to prevent economic collapse, the newspaper reported.
The European industry has a capacity of around 200 million to 210 million metric tons, the newspaper said. Eder said a decline is inevitable, given market conditions.
As are other steelmakers throughout the world, European producers are under pressure from a barrage low-cost Chinese imports. U.K. steelmakers have been especially hard hit as more than 5,000 steel jobs have been lost this year. They are also under pressure from high energy costs, according to the newspaper.
Eder said the U.K. crisis is a "negative role model" for the wider European industry as it struggles under a "cost structure that is not commercially competitive in the long run.”
European steelmakers have been calling for government intervention to stem the flood of imports, and at least one Parliament member has said the U.K. ought to nationalize parts of its steel industry.
“If the Italian government can take a public stake to maintain their steel industry, so can we,” said U.K. Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn on 13 November, according to The Yorkshire Post newspaper.
“That’s why Labour will be pressing (U.K. Prime Minister David) Cameron to use the powers we have to intervene and, if necessary, take a strategic stake in steel - to save jobs and restructure the industry,” Corbyn said.
Corbyn said Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne need to act as decisively on steel as the government did in 2008, when it partly nationalized two banks to prevent economic collapse, the newspaper reported.
