Shunko Rojas, president of G20 Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity, urged participants at the Brazil Steel Congress, held from August 21-22 in Sao Paulo, to reach a consensus regarding the surplus affecting the global steel markets.
Currently, there’s a 545 million mt steel surplus, a Gerdau executive said in a panel discussing the world steel glut. China aims to reduce capacity to 150 million mt by 2020.
“Discussions have diverged from its original purpose following Trump’s and other countries’ tariffs,” Rojas said.
Rojas argued local governments have little margin to implement reforms that may actually have an impact in their domestic markets. He added that none of the proposed changes to tackle the exceeding capacity will solve the issue in the short term.
Rojas also urged Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, to conduct a “deep and serious review” of trade bloc Mercosur. “The (bloc) should seek a positive and beneficial integration for all its countries,” he said.
Commenting specifically about the bilateral relations of Brazil and Argentina, Rojas said their joint challenge is to “reduce (trade) tensions.”
“We should reduce trade tensions that generate uncertainties. We should look for an exporting solution. We should bet in multilateral strategies at the WTO, and the BRICs. They, fundamentally, need to build their own and joint strategy of world inclusion,” Rojas said.