The German steel federation Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahl (WV Stahl) has urged EU member countries to respond to the serious distortions in the global steel markets. "The EU's import situation has worsened dramatically in 2015," said Hans Jürgen Kerkhoff, WV Stahl president, adding that one of the basic obligations of the EU and its member states is to protect their industries against unfair trade practices of third countries. He pointed out that, with the existing EU trade defense instruments, it takes one and half year to announce a final decision, suggesting that the EU needs faster implementation regarding rising cheap import volumes.
In the third quarter of 2015, orders in Germany’s domestic steel industry fell by 11 percent compared to the same period last year, while at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the weakness has continued, especially due to the dramatic increase of Chinese exports at dumped prices. Exports had increased in 2014 because of the slump in the domestic market and the uncontrolled capacity expansion in China by 50 percent. Mr. Kerkhoff predicted that 2015 will probably see a further increase of about 30 percent to about 110 million mt of rolled steel. "We fear that the excess capacity in China will continue to increase in the coming year and exceed the 400 million mt mark," he said.