Posted on 21 Jun 2018
The European Union should not rush into a knee-jerk response to the recently-imposed US import duties on steel, according to Tommaso Sandrini, president of Assofermet Acciai. The region is barely a net importer of steel and its steel industry is not under threat from new sources of imports, he told Kallanish Europe Steel Markets conference in Antwerp on Wednesday.
“Hurry is a bad counsellor,” Sandrini notes. The US duties may in fact have a very limited actual impact on the European steel industry. US prices have increased so fast that EU steel is competitive even with a 25% import tax. The diversion of steel from the USA to Europe is also unlikely as most major exporters are already blocked from the market. China, Brazil, Russia, Iran, Ukraine and other countries all face dumping duties on steel products.
The threat of imports to the EU steel industry has in fact been overstated, Sandrini argues. Although total imports increased around 89% over 2012-2017, the EU only became a net importer in 2016. Net imports to the EU are still less than 2% of crude steel production, he notes.
With imports and exports so balanced, any hasty retaliation such as safeguard duties would be counterproductive. They would limit necessary supply to the EU without having an impact on the key markets which already face duties. Over time, existing anti-dumping duties should also be allowed to lapse in certain conditions, Sandrini said. These measures are always meant to be temporary.
