The flow of steel trade in Europe

The European steel industry is indispensable for the processing and delivery of the products to the beneficiaries. It also delivers outside the European Union, exporting in 2012 – 27 million tons of steel.

For global success, the European steel industry depends on several elements to compete with its competitors: trade barriers must be removed for the free exchange of goods. The World Trade Organization (WTO) announces that the sectors most often affected are automobiles, machine and equipment construction, chemical products and steel production, informs EUROFER.

The World Steel Association was founded in 1967. It is one of the most important organizations in the industry. Bringing together 180 producers, including 19 of the 20 largest companies worldwide, national and regional associations, respectively research institutes. The members of the organization annually produce approximately 85% of the steel delivered worldwide.

In 1989, world steel production was 786 million tons. In 2009, world production decreased by eight percent compared to the previous year, up to 1.22 billion tons, and the biggest producers were China – 567.8 million tons, Japan – 87.5 million tons, Russia – 59.9 million tons and the USA – 58.1 million tons. World production increased to 1.4 billion tons in 2010.

Today, 65% of global steel production is affected by protectionist measures. Many countries impose restrictive import laws. Licenses are imported for better domestic markets.

European markets are already targets for imports through dumping policies or by subsidizing parts of production costs. Thus, commercial defense measures are required to restore fair competition and avoid market distortions.

Source: http://www.eurofer.org/About%20Steel/Steel%20Trade.fhtml