Speaking at the “Regional CEO Panel” during the World Steel Association’s 49th meeting in Chicago, Dr. Karl-Ulrich Köhler, CEO and Managing Director of Tata Steel Europe said that the star in the EU region is the automotive industry. Mr.Köhler said passenger car sales grew by more than eight percent this year. On the other hand, Mr.Köhler said that the construction industry demand is still waiting for the investors to build up confidence.
Mr. Köhler said there was not a gloomy picture in the EU market but steel demand has been absorbed by 16 percent rise in imports mainly coming from China and Russia. He added that political instabilities have recently found some ground in Europe. Refugee crisis has been attracting a lot of attention he said, adding that stability issue has not been cleared completely yet.
The Tata Steel Europe official also said that effective capacity utilization in EU was 86 percent with imports being the largest threat for the industry. He complained that the EU was extremely slow in trade protections and cases against imports which constitute the main political worry.