Resumen de UNITECR 2015: : Steel sector must adjust to "new normal" without subsidies
Speaking in Vienna, Austria, at the 14th Unified International Technical Conference on Refractories (UNITECR) in September, Hans-Jurgen Kerkhoff, president of the German Steel Federation, said that the global steel market had entered a "new normal" of slower growth.Steel market adjustments under new lower growth conditions should be driven without subsidies or else run the risk of temporary overcapacity becoming permanent, a leading German steel industry figure has warned.
"Global steel demand and growth in world GDP has decoupled in recent years," Kerkhoff said. He explained that future developments and policy measures, such as China's transition to a market economy and reforms in European Union (EU) steel markets, could help the global steel industry to recuperate. He stressed, however, that these adaptations must be allowed to take place in step with market forces, rather than by prolonging the process through subsidies.
