Ruggero Alocci, vice president of the ferrous metal division of the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) has expressed his views to SteelOrbis regarding the issue of ferrous scrap exports from the European Union. Antonio Gozzi, new president of Italian steelmakers association Federacciai, had recently described scrap as "the only mine" for steelmaking raw materials Europe may count upon.
What is your opinion regarding requests for restrictions on ferrous scrap exports outside the EU?
Any measure which would limit ferrous and non-ferrous scrap exports from Europe represents a constant worry for all of the operators in the recycling sector worldwide. Everybody knows that we have been fighting both on the political and the economic fronts for the respect of free and fair trade. The metal industry cannot feel safe introducing new limits or restrictions on scrap exports to non-EU countries, as there is a surplus as compared to the needs of the European steel industry. Besides, national and continental metal and steel industry associations are continuously pushing to limit scrap exports outside Europe, to places where their major competitors are located.
Frequently European entrepreneurs state that non-EU steel producers' competitiveness also results from ‘environmental dumping'. Does this happen in the recycling sector as well?
This is also influenced by the environmental issue. The EU imposes strict pollution limits on metal and steel producers, which weigh down on production costs. Meanwhile, non-EU competitors do not have to bear that burden and can compete in the international markets with bigger profit margins. Similarly, European recycling industry players must cope with environmental costs which are way higher than for their non-EU competitors.
Which proposals have been made to remedy these disadvantages which put pressure on the whole European steel supply chain?
In this environment, one option is to provide incentives and reward European recyclers for the transformation of waste into products with green certificates (similar to the credits awarded to steelmakers under the ETS [emissions trading scheme] directive) for every ton of scrap recycled and supplied to European furnaces. This idea is particularly valid because EU scrap is already subject to an environmental burden as it derives from EU steel and metal production.
The recent proposal of Federacciai president Antonio Gozzi follows the same principles. He stated that steel and metal products imported from non-EU countries should be loaded with the same environmental burden they should bear if they were produced in Europe. The important thing is to place both EU and non-EU production on a level playing field. In this way, the whole European steel and metal production chain would regain competitiveness.