Mr Wolfgang Eder, the CEO of the Austrian steel manufacturing company Voestalpine and President of the European Steel Association EUROFER, is not optimistic about the short-term upturn of demand in steel in Europe. Eder predicts that the demand will decrease further in 2013 and prices will continue to remain under pressure.
The first five months of 2013 did not show any improvements in the situation. Even for the second half of this year, no major changes in the current circumstances are expected. The heavy industry companies such as ArcelorMittal, ThyssenKrupp and Salzgitter have been struggling with a weak demand for more than two years.
Eder once again rejected government subsidies for the steel industry. According to him, around 70% of Eurofer member companies agree with him. The EU has announced to help the sector out and is currently preparing an aid plan, which is expected in June. However, Eder warned that not all problems could be solved just by this aid plan.
Eder estimates that the production of steel in Europe will decrease from 140M tonnes by a half until the year 2030 in case the current economic conditions will not improve. He opined, “Many steel manufacturing enterprises were theoretically supposed to die because of a lack in competitiveness but stayed alive because of public support funds. Hence, the political influence increases and the enterprises are being kept on life support”.
