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Economic and steel market outlook 2021-2022, fourth quarter
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The positive trend seen in apparent steel consumption as well as in steel-using sectoral output continued over the second quarter of 2021, at a considerably higher pace than in the first quarter of 2021. This was driven by the ongoing recovery in demand from the industry sector, where output bounced back after the losses experienced during the pandemic.
At the same time, this is also due to the comparison with the very low output levels seen one year earlier. The second quarter of 2020 saw widespread lockdowns and stoppages to industrial activity that were implemented across the EU as a result of the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, the general economic and industrial recovery in the EU appears to be increasingly uneven and exposed to downside risks, mainly the ongoing, severe disruptions in the global supply chain (i.e. shortage of components and raw materials, skyrocketing energy prices, rising shipping costs, etc.), as well as the sluggish implementation of vaccination plans in some Member States and COVID-19 variants.
Recovery in steel-using industries and in steel demand is expected to continue through 2021 but at a moderate rate and subject to considerable uncertainty at least until the first quarter of 2022, when most of the current global supply chain disruptions are expected to disappear or to ease significantly.
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Brussels, 17 May 2022 – The European steel industry calls upon the plenary of European Parliament to fix the disruptive vote on the Emissions Trading System (ETS) and Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) cast by its Environment Committee. Today’s outcome endangers €31 billion investments needed for deploying the 60 low carbon projects the European steel industry has in the pipeline, as well as €45 billion in exports value and 30,000 jobs.
It is essential that the implementation of the Fit for 55 Package delivers the agreed 2030 climate targets while supporting companies’ investments, preserving effective carbon leakage measures and avoiding disproportionate costs, capacity closures and job losses.
Brussels, 11 May 2022 – The current Waste Shipment Regulation proposal lacks effective measures to tackle environmental challenges of waste exports and to enhance EU resiliency on valuable secondary raw materials, risking to undermine the EU’s Circular Economy and Green Deal objectives, warns the European Steel Association (EUROFER) on the occasion of the presentation of the draft report by the Environment Committee at the European Parliament.