FRANKFURT (Reuters) - European steel companies will have to cut a substantial number of jobs to bolster their earnings, reflecting a slump in demand and Asian competition, Wolfgang Eder, vice president of the World Steel Association, was quoted saying by a German newspaper.
"Massive job cuts are unavoidable," weekly Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung quoted Eder as saying, in an excerpt of an article to be published on Sunday, adding headcount reductions were "painful but long overdue".
Steel demand is expected to return to growth in Europe this year, though European steel industry body Eurofer, whose members include the likes of ArcelorMittal, ThyssenKrupp and Voestalpine, has said cheaper steel imports from outside the European Union had put pressure on margins.
Eder, also chief executive of Austria's Voestalpine, warned that European steel companies were falling behind their peers in China, India and Korea in terms of technology and innovation, because they could not afford to invest.
Executives of major steel companies are due to meet at the World Steel Association's annual conference in Moscow on Oct. 5 to 8.
(Reporting by Maria Sheahan; Editing by David Holmes)