The European non-integrated wire rod processors association EUNIRPA cautions against any abusive use of trade protection measures by the European Steel Association (EUROFER) and is concerned that the current wave of antidumping proceedings might mislead the European Commission into affording protection against imports of steel products that are not in oversupply in the EU.
EUNIRPA also stated that it cautions the commission against being unwittingly led into unduly favoring a limited number of EU integrated steel producers at the expense of a very large number of predominantly small and mid-sized non-integrated processors spread throughout the EU that can only survive if they are able to continue to have access to imports and suppliers that are not competing with them on their own downstream output.
According to EUNIRPA, the commission and EU decision makers as a whole need to understand that far from being limited to the production of steel, the backbone of the EU steel industry is largely composed of thousands of steel processing companies that create strong added value and generate tens of thousands of jobs. Any undue attempt to restrict access to the supply of feedstock to these industries will only lead to massive closures and/or delocalizations to areas that are not affected by protective measures.