Chinese steel dumping threatens sector recovery in Europe, U.S.

European and U.S. steel producers are only slowly emerging from a 2008 sector meltdown, but already they are faced with a new challenge, the Chinese dumping.

Chinese steel is overabundant since a sharp slowdown in the Asian giant's economy has sapped domestic demand, and is shipping to world markets at cut-down prices.

"China now sells its excess steel to the EU market at prices that do not even cover its costs for raw materials and material transformation," Charles de Lusignan, communications manager at steel lobbyist Eurofer, told AFP.

Experts on both sides of the Atlantic say China, which alone produces half of the world's steel, is sitting on an overproduction of 340 million tons, which is twice the amount the European Union produces in a year.

According to Eurofer numbers, Chinese steel exports to the EU doubled in 2014 from the previous year to reach 4.5 million tons, and are expected to come in at twice that again this year.

ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest integrated steel and mining company, pointed the finger at China when its share price fell to historic lows in the autumn.

"The overcapacity situation [in China] has led to a significant increase in exports to the world's markets," said Aditya Mittal, the company's CEO, singling out the company's core markets of Europe and the United States.
U.S. producers say they too are feeling the pain.

"The American steel industry is in a dire situation, with record imports surging in and facilities across the country being idled," said Thomas J. Gibson, head of the American Iron and Steel Institute, an association of U.S. producers.

Steelmakers in the EU and the U.S. have turned to their governments and the World Trade Organization to stop...