The European stainless steel sector continues to be suffocated by unfair international trade measures and this simply can no longer continue. The European Commission must take urgent action to ensure fair international trade for the sake of European jobs.

IndustriAll European Trade Union has written to the European Commission’s Chief Trade Enforcement Officer on behalf of thousands of European stainless steel workers, calling for urgent action to stop unfair international trade and to safeguard European jobs. 

Ahead of the European Commission’s decisions on the anti-subsidy (China and Indonesia) and anti-dumping (China, Indonesia, and Taiwan) stainless steel complaints, industriAll Europe has again raised the concerns of European workers. 

Unfair international trade has led to a decrease production in the EU (8% in 2019), while the market share of imports of hot-rolled products has reached an all-time high (40.7% in 2019). This is a real concern for the 200,000 direct workers in the EU’s stainless steel industry and the thousands more in the supply chain. 

Judith Kirton-Darling, Deputy General Secretary of industriAll Europe said:

‘’The European stainless steel sector continues to be suffocated by unfair international trade measures and this simply can no longer continue. The European Commission must take urgent action to ensure fair international trade for the sake of European jobs." 

‘’It is vital that the high-quality jobs in the stainless steel sector are safeguarded, European workers should not be made to suffer due to the unfair and aggressive trade policy of non-EU countries."

‘’We are calling for an end to Indonesia’s blanket ban on nickel, a critical raw material, tough responses to the current anti-subsidy and anti-dumping complaints, and the further strengthening of the steel safeguards. There is no time to waste and the EU must act now.’’ 

IndustriAll Europe’s letter to the European Commission’s Chief Trade Enforcement Officer

Press release from Aperam’s European Works Council

Contact: Andrea Husen-Bradley (press and communication), Elspeth Hathaway (steel & basic metals policy adviser)