European Steel Using Industries, a group of lobbying organizations representing manufacturers of goods ranging from automobiles and household appliances to agricultural machinery, warned that the European Commission's proposal to expand and tighten security measures against steel imports could undermine the competitiveness of Europe's processing industries, Kallanish said in a joint press statement.
While supporting the goal of addressing global overcapacity and ensuring a level playing field for European steel producers, the associations argue that the proposed parameters would overly restrict the EU market and fail to ensure a fair balance between steel producers and consumers. They warn that this proposal will almost halve the total volume of import quotas while doubling the non-quota tariff to 50%, potentially leading to additional tariff costs of 5-9 billion euros per year for processing industries, provided that import volumes remain at the level of 2024.
The Commission estimates an average 3.25% increase in steel prices in the EU according to this proposal, but the associations say this is a conservative assumption, noting that price increases of up to 30% may occur in some product categories. Such price increases will hit not only importers, but also companies dependent on European-made steel, weakening both European and international competitiveness.
There are concerns about the planned introduction of the "melt and pour" rule, which, according to the associations, will significantly increase the administrative burden, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. They warn that tracing the origin of low-value goods will be impracticable, and argue that any such requirement should be implemented more carefully and in stages over a realistic time frame.
The associations add that stricter safety measures will make it more difficult to supply specialized, high-quality steel needed for complex industrial applications, many of which are produced by only a limited number of suppliers worldwide and in insufficient quantities in Europe.
They stress that these impacts will exacerbate the impact of other policy measures, including the carbon cap adjustment mechanism and the phase-out of free ETS emissions quotas, further increasing steel costs throughout the value chain. This proposal will affect the EU's close trading partners, which do not contribute to global overcapacity, but instead supply high-quality, environmentally friendly and specialized
