"We will consider carefully the request made by EUROFER [European steel producers' association] for the imposition of duties on ferrous scrap exports from the EU. We will assume a commitment to the issues of heavy industry in Europe," stated Claudio De Vincenti, under-secretary at the Italian Ministry for Economic Development, in answer to the appeal made by Antonio Gozzi, the new president of the Italian steel association Federacciai.
One of the issues raised by Mr. Gozzi was the need for restrictions on the export of ferrous scrap from the EU. "Scrap is the only steelmaking raw material available in Europe" he said, adding that several times Federacciai and EUROFER had asked the European Commission to take action to protect EU scrap resources, but each time the answer was negative, motivated by alleged fair trade principles.
Mr. Gozzi also highlighted the problem of export duties on Russian scrap, stating that the European Commission had allowed Russia to keep a 15 percent export duty on steel scrap after it entered the World Trade Organization (WTO) at the end of 2011.