BRATISLAVA – Slovakia’s US Metal Košice is sounding the alarm as low-cost imports and weak demand drive it to function at simply two-thirds capability, warning that with out stronger EU safeguards, Europe’s metal trade dangers everlasting collapse.
“The low costs and excessive import ranges make manufacturing uneconomical. This isn’t sustainable,” Michal Pintér, US Metal Košice’s Director of Governmental, EU Affairs & REACH, stated on the plant. “We’re in a state of emergency. If we don’t act now, we danger dropping a strategic sector completely,” he added.
US Metal’s warnings come because the European Fee consults on redesigning safeguard measures, which presently expire on 30 June 2026. The Fee plans to current new proposals within the third quarter of 2025.
EU metal output has declined from 160 million tonnes in 2018 to 130 million tonnes in 2024.
With out stronger safeguards, manufacturing might plummet to as little as 10 million tonnes by 2050, overlaying 5-10% of Europe’s metal demand, warns Europe’s metal affiliation, EUROFER.
As an answer to the decline, Pintér additionally referred to as for a brand new, versatile safeguard system.
“We’d like a software that reacts shortly to altering market situations and applies pretty to all international locations, together with these with free commerce agreements. Tariff price quotas ought to cut back imports to historic ranges, with tariffs as much as 50% above quotas, much like current US measures,” he stated on the plant.
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