HRF steel counts producers all over Europe and 330,000 workers still earn their living in the EU steel sector. The cost of the wide variety of raw materials needed to produce HRF fluctuate a great deal, as does the composition and quality of the product itself. Therefore, HRF represents a variety of products leading to constant price volatility and is a base for EU producers’ competitiveness. The proposed fixed MIP of 472€/ton is below the recent average price and indeed fixing any benchmark price for HRF would interfere in the free market.
The major issues dogging the industry today have arisen from the financial crisis, global overcapacities, and unfair trade practices. As the voice of industrial workers in the steel sector, we insist on a future for steel in Europe as a vital backbone for a high-tech industrial sector (i.e. automotive, electronics or renewables) and will continue pressing this point to our governments. IndustriAll European Trade Union calls on the European Commission to replace the MIP proposal on HRF by the normal trade defence instrument anti-dumping duties measure to safeguard our European industry and prevent unfair trade practices.