The steel industry has had a longstanding presence in Europe and remains an important employer of skilled labour. Furthermore, the industry also supports significant activity and jobs in a range of other industries throughout the EU, as a result of the large amount of money spent on the materials and services used in the steel production process. Crucially, steel makes a powerful contribution to the continent’s standard of living, by forming a key input in the work of other industrial sectors. In turn, many of these customer industries produce items essential for the functioning of the wider EU economy.
In 2017, the European steel industry made a €25 billion direct contribution to the standard ‘gross value added’ measure of EU-wide production (hereafter referred to as GVA). However, the industry’s total GVA impact that year, when supply chain and staff spending impacts are also included, was much higher, at €148 billion. This overall contribution exceeded the total GVA produced in the region of Berlin in 2017.
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Brussels, 07 December 2023 – The inclusion of transformative industrial technologies for the decarbonisation of energy-intensive sectors, such as steel, in the list of net-zero technologies in the general approach adopted by the Council on the Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA), sends a positive signal at a crucial time when governments are deliberating urgent measures to protect the climate at COP28 in Dubai. Parliament and Council should now seize the opportunity to reach an ambitious agreement to promote EU-made green products in public auctions of net-zero technologies and to drive Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) in Europe. Promoting lead markets and CCUS are essential tools for sustaining the transition to low-carbon steelmaking, says the European Steel Association.
Brussels, 01 December 2023 – Further delays in implementing EU sanctions against Russian steel semifinished products would have a perverse effect, ultimately fuelling Putin’s war machine against Ukraine. The EU Council should reject additional exemption requests from a few member states defending the lucrative business model of few steel rerollers. The trade dynamic that takes advantage of cheap steel imported from Russia while aiding the supply to its military and related downstream sectors must come to an end, states the European Steel Association.
Industriall & EUROFER joint statement