European steel service centers (SSCs) have relayed their concerns regarding the impact of the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) on steel processing during a meeting held by the association of European steel and metal distributors EUROMETAL.
The SSCs stated that Asian suppliers are looking for solutions to circumvent the CBAM, which is putting European metal forming industry and service centers at risk and also steel mills. In fact, some first-tier customers, feeling threatened by the impact of the CBAM, are in search of alternatives from overseas, preferring to import ready-to-use steel products in order not to deal with the CBAM. This situation worries the SSCs and they also said that the CBAM complicates matters more than needed given the fact that they need to make significant investments in decarbonization and cost optimization.
The participants, nevertheless, agreed that the meeting highlighted the importance of dialogue and collaboration with the industry, with the future of European steel processing depending on the industry’s ability to adapt to the demands of the CBAM while remaining competitive.