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Priority transport issues for the European steel industry
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Transport plays a central role for the EU steel industry in its competitiveness within and outside of EU borders as it accounts for up to 15% the steel sector’s total costs. A functional single market, with established principles of free movement of goods and services, is a necessary foundation on which the more than 500 steel processing and production sites in 24 steel-producing member states of the EU rely on in their everyday operations.
Brussels, 27 November 2024 – The European steel industry is at a critical juncture, facing irreversible decline unless the EU and Member States take immediate action to secure its future and green transition. Despite repeated warnings from the sector, the EU leadership and governments have yet to implement decisive measures to preserve manufacturing and allow green investments across Europe. Recent massive production cuts and closure announcements by European steelmakers show that time has run out. A robust European Steel Action Plan under an EU Clean Industrial Deal cannot wait or manufacturing value chains across Europe will simply vanish, warns the European Steel Association.
Brussels, 12 November 2024 - Ahead of Commissioner-Designate Séjourné’s hearing in the European Parliament, European steel social partners, supported by cross-party MEPs, jointly call for an EU Steel Action Plan to restore steel’s competitiveness, and save its green transition as well as steelworkers’ jobs across Europe.
Brussels, 29 October 2024 – The European steel market faces an increasingly challenging outlook, driven by a combination of low steel demand, a downturn in steel-using sectors, and persistently high import shares. These factors, combined with a weak overall economic forecast, rising geopolitical tensions, and higher energy costs for the EU compared to other major economic regions, are further deepening the downward trend observed in recent quarters. According to EUROFER’s latest Economic and Steel Market Outlook, apparent steel consumption will not recover in 2024 as previously projected (+1.4%) but is instead expected to experience another recession (-1.8%), although milder than in 2023 (-6%). Similarly, the outlook for steel-using sectors’ output has worsened for 2024 (-2.7%, down from -1.6%). Recovery projections for 2025 are also more modest for both apparent consumption (+3.8%) and steel-using sectors’ output (+1.6%). Steel imports share rose to 28% in the second quarter of 2024.
The European Steel Association (EUROFER)
172 Avenue de Cortenbergh
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Belgium
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