Eurofer has asked Commission to watch and act on trade barriers* Recyclers, scrap traders are worried by increasing protectionism
* About 30 countries including Ukraine, Russia restrict exports
LONDON, June 7 (Reuters) - Europe's steel industry association Eurofer has asked the EU's executive Commission to monitor and possibly act against nations outside the bloc which restrict exports of raw materials such as scrap, saying such barriers are unfair.
"We have recently sent a letter to the Commission saying that they should monitor those countries that are restricting exports of scrap and other raw materials and then possibly put some measures against this," Eurofer's Axel Eggert told Reuters.
"We want to have a level playing field because this is harming our industry."
Eggert did not name countries which were retaining scrap for their own use but an economist at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said about 30 countries restrict the scrap exports.
Some of these include Ukraine, Russia, Vietnam, Venezuela and Argentina, said Barbara Fliess, senior economist in the Trade and Agriculture Directorate of the OECD.
Eggert said Eurofer, which says it represents 100 % of EU steel production, has not suggested any particular measures and has not asked for any restrictions of scrap exports from the bloc.
"That would be difficult under current EU law and it's not in our policy to ask for this kind of restrictions," he said.
He said that there had been calls from other European organizations to keep the EU's raw materials and scrap metal for its own use.
"There are discussions within the EU institutions, and they are not coming from Eurofer, to attain a close loop in Europe which includes raw materials and scrap."
Fears of Protectionism
Members of the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) said last week that European steelmakers, including some top manufacturers, were pressuring the EU Commission to impose export restrictions on steel scrap from the EU to help preserve their domestic raw material stocks.
The head of Italy's steel industry body Federacciai, Antonio Gozzi, also told a news conference earlier this week that the association is considering requesting to put duties on exports of scrap steel from Europe, on which the local industry depends for about 60 % of supplies.
Members of BIR, which groups scrap and recycling businesses around the world, described the issue of export restrictions as alarming, very dangerous and unnecessary.
"There is enough scrap in Europe for domestic steelmakers," Tom Bird of Dutch company Van Dalen Recycling said during a recycling conference last week.
The BIR non-ferrous metals board also expressed concern over the visible growth in protectionist moves. To fight this trend it has commissioned a study, initially focused on aluminum and copper scrap consumption in the various countries and its flows around the world.
