An action by steel distributors and service centers took place in Brussels this month, which opposed increased competition from imports of steel products intended for further processing.
The protests were sparked by concerns that new EU trade and climate measures could further complicate the situation of companies operating in the steel supply chain downstream.
In June, the European Commission approved a proposal to expand the CBAM carbon import regulation mechanism to about 180 additional types of steel and aluminum products from 2028. However, more than 200 industry representatives from across the European steel market said at the Eurometal conference on Industrial Competitiveness on September 7 that this was not enough.
The demonstration took place just days before a key vote on the future coverage of CBAM. On September 15, the European Parliament supported a significant expansion of the mechanism, which could affect more than 400 types of recycled steel products. This proposal will now be discussed with the EU member States.
According to Eurometal, the current trade and climate policy of the European Union protects European steel producers from competition from abroad, but it does not provide protection to companies that work with finished steel products. Such products are currently not subject to either CBAM or tariff quotas under the TRQS steel regulation.
The association believes that the current trade protection measures for steel imports do not eliminate, but only transfer pressure from foreign suppliers to other parts of the market. This, according to Eurometal, weakens the competitiveness of the entire European steel supply chain downstream.
The organization also warns about the risks of carbon leakage. If more carbon-intensive processes in third countries are used to produce products imported into the EU, this may negate the climate effect of European restrictions.
Against this background, the European Parliament is increasingly paying attention to the growing supply of slightly modified steel products, which allows bypassing EU trade barriers. This increased price pressure on European manufacturers, service centers, and resellers, while access to imports decreased markedly after the introduction of new tariffs.
The average price of a hot-rolled roll in Europe, according to MEPS, increased by more than 16% from January to September. Buyers are increasingly focusing on purchases from European manufacturers, however, high inventories and weak demand, as this month's study showed, may limit further price increases in the coming months.
Large distributors and service centers are better able to navigate the hard