Tag: Steel

SPECIAL REPORT / After a year of closures, sackings and cut-backs, arguments about how to turn European industry around will be to the fore this year as debate intensifies around the correct policy response, and doubts linger over the EU’s ability to deliver.

SPECIAL REPORT / Steelmakers and other metals industries fear that limits the EU is considering imposing on the amount of natural resources they use will push them out of Europe, where environmental regulations are less stringent.

European steelmakers warn they have reached the limits of how much recycled metal can feed their mills as competition for scrap is driving exports to emerging Asian economies. EurActiv reports from ArcelorMittal's factory in Ghent, Belgium.

In a drive to boost recycling markets, the European Union has adopted quality criteria for iron, steel and aluminium scrap, with similar rules in the pipeline for other materials such as copper, paper, glass and compost.

European industry bodies have called on the EU to fight excessive iron ore prices and prevent unfair competition, saying the current situation could hamper economic recovery and harm the competitiveness of manufacturing in Europe.

As US lawmakers prepare to draft the country's emerging climate policy, fears have been expressed by steelmakers and other energy-intensive industries about competitive disadvantage, echoing a debate that has been raging in Europe since the adoption of the EU emissions trading scheme (EU ETS).