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The BBC announced recently that the European Commission opened three investigations into steel products made in China as cheap imports add to the woes of the UK industry.
You may consider to discuss the following questions in your personal and critical reflection:
How can EU trade policies impact the global steel market?
How strategic is the steel industry for the UK and the EU?
What is fair/unfair competition regarding the production of steel?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35559540
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There is the link for the article.
EU is the second largest steel producer after China. The recent overproduction and cheap cost of the steel from China has lead to massive job cuts in the UK, hence there has been a change in the trade policies to reducing the steel imports from China using anti-dumping policies. EU is known to be an open market, however the non-EU steel producing countries employ trade restriction methods to get an undue advantage for their own steel sector. Tariff barriers, export incentives put a restriction on the raw material required for the production of the steel. EU addresses the challenge of overproduction and dumping of the steel in their market by Trade Defence Instruments. The commission remains vigilant to ensure that WTO rules about anti-dumping are adhered and respected. Hence, the major impact of the EU trade policies on the global steel market will be reflected in the price stabilization in the UK and EU (Eur-lex.europa.eu, 2016). Moreover, it will restrict the import in EU and the UK region, hence the prices from the China and Russian steel manufacturer will go down further due to the export gap created by the high import tariffs.
Steel industry plays a vital role both in EU and the UK. It is known that EU is second largest producer of steel. Since the recession in 2008, there is a continuous job loss in the steel sector. Due to the rising threat from China and Russia, many other major steel producers have indicated a job cut in the steel market. Due to the consistent shrink in the steel sector, other sectors such as distributors, steel processors, metal scrap dealers and metal product manufacturers will be impacted (BBC News, 2016). Hence, it is not just a crisis for the steel sector, but overall manufacturing sector. Hence, the expected economic output for the UK and EU will shrink. This places steel industry in one of the vital and strategic areas for both EU and the UK.
On the global level, China and Russia has managed to produce steel at rapid rate. Moreover, both the countries are selling steel at the price lesser than the production cost. The price war provides an unfair advantage to China and other third world countries when it comes to steel production and selling.
Eur-lex.europa.eu. (2016). EUR-Lex - 52013DC0407 - EN - EUR-Lex. [online] Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52013DC0407 [Accessed 22 Apr. 2016].
BBC News. (2016). Steel imports from China investigated by European Commission - BBC News. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35559540 [Accessed 22 Apr. 2016].