The 41st annual conference of the International Iron and Steel Institute (IISI) was held in Berlin, Germany on October 07, 2007. Before the conference began, the representatives of the major German steel companies declared that they would support any move by EUROFER (European Confederation of Iron and Steel Industries) to file an antidumping complaint against China.
The representatives of Europe's major steelmakers such as Germany-based Salzgitter AG and ThyssenKrupp AG, along with the German steel industry association Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahl, stated they were sure that Chinese suppliers were selling stainless steel, flat bars, wires and heavy plates to the European market at dumping prices, and also that China's steel exports to Europe would double to 10 million mt this year.
Meanwhile, Zhang Xiaogang, chairman of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) and president of Anshan Iron and Steel Group Corporation (Angang) said that western anger over surging Chinese steel imports was "unreasonable" and runs against the concept of globalization, in an interview to the Chinese official news agency in Berlin. According to Zhang Xiaogang, the increase in Chinese steel exports to Europe is due to the rapid economic development in this region. He went on to state that this year the growth rate of China's steel production was lower than that of some other countries such as India, that major European companies were happy to use Chinese steel, and that the cost of Chinese steel was not lower than that of local products in Europe.