Europe seeks curbs on Chinese steelmakers

Arcelor Mittal, the world's biggest steelmaker, said European producers might seek regulatory action to prevent Chinese rivals from selling stainless steel in the region at below-market prices as production rises.

Baoshan Iron & Steel Co, China's largest steel producer, last month said the growth might trigger anti-dumping measures from the US and the European Union. Arcelor and Baoshan executives were in Kyoto, Japan, today for an International Stainless Steel Forum meeting.

"We are facing a lot of pressure in Europe,'' Jean-Yves Gilet, vice-president of stainless steel at Arcelor Mittal, said today in Kyoto. "There are a lot of imports from China.'' He said steps to protect the European makers "won't happen today, but if China continues, we have to be very careful''.

European stainless steelmakers are looking for ways to cope with prices that have fallen 35 per cent this year, partly because of increasing Chinese imports. China, which overtook Japan as the biggest maker of the corrosion-proof metal last year, had boosted capacity faster than domestic demand was growing, Wang Chengxue, assistant to the stainless steel president of Baoshan, said yesterday.

China might make as much as 50 per cent more corrosion-resistant steel this year after a 68 per cent increase in 2006 to 5.3 mt, Chai Zhiyong, president of Shanxi Taigang Stainless Steel Co, said today. He spoke on the sidelines of the forum in Kyoto.

"The rapid growth of Chinese steel products exports may trigger anti-dumping measures from the US and the European Union,'' Chen Ying, chief financial officer of Baoshan Iron & Steel Co, China's biggest steel producer, said on April 2 in an online dialogue with investors to discuss the 2006 earnings.

Stainless steelmaker Outokumpu Oyj, based in Espoo, Finland, was cutting output this quarter by 10 per cent as consumers relied on stockpiles of the metal, it said on April 24.

China was a net exporter of stainless steel products in the final quarter of 2006, Arcelor's Gilet said, without giving figures.