The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), together with the Belgian government, hosted a meeting in Brussels, on April 18, to seek possible solutions to the excess capacity challenge facing the global steel industry. The meeting looked the root causes contributing to excess capacity, including cyclical and structural factors. Significant concerns were raised about the detrimental effects of excess capacity, such as significant shifts in trade flows, large numbers of job losses, reduced economic viability, and harmful impacts on the environment.
However, according to media sources, after the failure of the discussions at the meeting on tackling overcapacity and low prices in the industry, EU industry commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska has indicated that, given the difficult situation facing the steel industry, that, in order to support the European steel industry, the EU could soften the rules on state aid. She also warned that the situation for the European steel industry is likely to worsen by the end of the year.