On the one hand there is satisfaction, while on the other hand, it is certain that there is still much work to do. This is the opinion expressed by Flavio Bregant, director of the Italian steelmakers association Federacciai, who was interviewed by SteelOrbis on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the association in Milan, regarding the changes to the EU safeguard that came into effect October 1.
"The safeguard,” said Mr. Bregant “is a defense tool that the European Commission has used to defend itself against flows deriving from US Section 232 measures. In the first period, the safeguard had been built quite badly, giving way to some countries to play within the rules and have predatory behavior, as in the case of Turkey."
"The recent revision has fixed things a little," continued Federacciai director, "We consider it positive, for example, to have reduced the rate of quotas relaxation from five percent to three percent. More could have been done, but an attempt was made to reach a general compromise. To date, it is difficult to say which product category has suffered more or less. The market is obviously quite variable”. Bregant underlined that the real theme is that there is a huge surplus of production capacity around the world. China alone has 300 million mt of spare capacity. “If we consider that the total European consumption is 150 million mt, we can understand that this global overcapacity can destroy trade flows. Today we are suffering from this overcapacity arriving onto the market," Bregant said. Finally, the director of Federacciai acknowledged that in addition to intervening on the supply side, it is necessary to stimulate demand through general and local infrastructural works in Italy.