EU industrial autonomy needs to expand CBAM, price increases are inevitable: Kallanish ESM26
The Carbon dioxide Emissions Regulation Mechanism (CBAM) should be expanded to include steel-based industrial products, but the big challenge is to get this idea across to policy makers in Brussels, said speakers at the Kallanish Europe Steel Markets 2026 conference in Vienna.
First, the steel industry, in the view of many, is reduced to steelmaking, to factories, ignoring auxiliary industries in the longer value chain. According to Alexander Julius, president of the Eurometal Distributors Association, the players lower down the chain - steel manufacturers - are mostly smaller companies, and they are easy to overlook.
Large steel mills belonging to the Eurofer association have traditionally enjoyed a good reputation in the European Commission, so their requests for trade measures have been heard, he noted. Political ties with the automotive industry have further strengthened, which is not an easy task, since automakers "are the largest beneficiaries" of spare parts manufactured outside the European Union.
This is detrimental mainly to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are scattered but supply materials and jobs, which are largely under threat within the union. Small and medium-sized enterprises "don't have offices in Brussels; they can't sit on officials' laps and have lunch with them," Julius said.
His wording provoked a reaction from the audience from a representative of Tata Steel, who stated that "lobbying is a lot of painstaking work, analytical work, and not just eating lunch." Nevertheless, he admitted that "in fact, you are right."
Julius also noted that not only jobs are at stake, but also Europe's industrial independence and national/continental security if China-made parts dominate Europe. "First they[Chinese suppliers]please us with low prices, and then they will control us. And will prices remain low? No," said Julius.
"They control us for defense purposes; that means all the components needed to build a drone. This means that they will dictate how much we get and at what price," he added.
His argument was continued by Jiri Mravec, Head of Innovation and Transformation at Trinecke Zelezarny. "We don't live in a peaceful world. No one wants to be 100% dependent on imports," he explained.
As long as there are import loopholes, importers will find ways around them. "I would not be naive in this matter, I would make CBAM as strict as possible," Mravets said. He cited railway products and bearings as an example.,