Assofermet, the association representing Italian distributors of scrap, raw materials, and steel products, expressed its position on the EU Safeguard Measures in favor of suspension/withdrawal of EU safeguard measures on steel imports by June 30, 2023. The same position had also been expressed on May 9 by ACEA, APPLiA, CECE, CECIMO, CLEPA, ORGALIM and WIND Europe.
Assofermet has previously informed the EU Commission of its concerns about the impact of the measures on the domestic and EU steel market as well as on steel-using manufacturing. “The influx of steel products subjected to quotas, galloping inflation, rising cost of raw materials, insufficient availability of products in the EU and high energy prices are just some of the factors that have contributed, under safeguards, to lower steel consumption in the EU and domestically,” Assofermet said. “The safeguard measure, in conjunction with numerous existing antidumping and anti-subsidy duties, has contributed, over these years, to the rise in the cost of steel by causing EU companies to lose competitiveness, seriously threatening their export of finished products.”
In addition, the association said that considering the fact that the European Union is preparing as early as next October to introduce the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), the prospects for free trade are moving further and further away from the EU.
Assofermet has therefore called for “the definitive termination of the EU safeguard measures and the restoration of the free market as early as June 30, 2023, without waiting for the scheduled deadline of June 30, 2024”.