The European non-integrated wire rod processors association EUNIRPA has said that the European Commission has put non-integrated wire rod processors at an unfair competitive disadvantage as compared to European wire rod producers, by imposing quotas for wire rod imports which are too limited, despite EUNIRPA’s warnings.
“The future for non-integrated wire rod processors looks very grim,” stated Kris Van Ginderdeuren, president of EUNIRPA. “The actual safeguard regulation has an unfair discriminatory effect on the non-integrated players. They are now without the proper resources to defend themselves in the market,” he affirmed
Since the imposition of safeguard measures by the European Commission, non-integrated wire rod processors have seen certain quotas vanish at an unprecedented pace. EUNIRPA said that the possibility to import excess country-specific tonnage, i.e., by using third country quotas, only provided temporary relief, since this quota ran out in two days, leaving a lot of independent processors struggling to find a reliable source of supply.
In the coming period, EUNIRPA will fully focus on the possibilities of a review for wire rod. A considerably higher quota for wire rod is the only fair decision for the European Commission to take, EUNİPRA stated.