Posted on 23 May 2019
European Parliament president Antonio Tajani has confirmed that Europe needs to adopt measures against the import of Indonesian steel. The Southeast Asian country has significantly increased its importance, specifically within the stainless steel sector within Europe, Kallanish notes.
Speaking at an event in Terni, invited by workers of Acciai Speciali Terni, Tajani stressed that a review to include Indonesia in the safeguard system is a priority.
“Chinese companies have acquired companies in Indonesia to use the country as a platform to sell into Europe. We need to intervene immediately,” Tajani said. He added that the first step to review the measures has been initiated last week, but he stressed that he has requested formally that a swift decision be made
All steelmakers during recent months have confirmed that they expect Europe to include Indonesia in the list of countries subject to the safeguard measures. Recently this view was supported by major Luxembourg-based stainless producer Aperam.
As a new European parliament is set to be elected during the coming days, Tajani also noted that he believes there is a need to update the rules for competition and anti-trust in Europe. This is necessary to avoid further problems similar to the ones that had occurred with the Outokumpu merger involving Terni and the Tata Steel/thyssenkrupp proposal.
“The existing rules are old and can limit the creation of European industrial champions,” Tajani noted.
