Italian steel trade association Assofermet opposes expanding EU quota restrictions
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Update time : 2020-05-13 15:02:36
Italian Steel and Assofermet sent a mail to the European Commission last week about the issues of the review of safeguard measures for certain imported steel products and impact of the Covid-19 epidemic on the steel market.
Assofermet said that steel demand has dropped to the lowest point, however steel mills were allowed to operate during the blockade. The association emphasized that EUROFER recently submitted several documents to numerous European institutions requesting further restrictions under the existing safeguards. However, the assumptions that the closure of the EU steel market would help the EU industries in these documents were untrue.
The association noted that the seasonal quota mechanism distorts import flows into the EU. Currently, any actions should be directed at how to affect demand, instead of reducing supply. Assofermet also mentioned that the EU should increase steel demand by formulating large-scale infrastructure plans.