Global level polices needed to reduce steel overcapacity: Italian expert

BRUSSELS — In order to fight global steel overcapacity, it is essential to put in place common policies at the world level, a former Italian minister told Xinhua recently.

Speaking in the context of a recent European summit in Germany to address the global steel overcapacity issue, Corrado Clini, former Italian minister for environment, said the matter could not be solved by anti-dumping measures because they are only temporary.

"The most important thing is to make common global rules every partner should implement," Clini said.

Environmental rules could be a good vehicle, for example, if we could adopt common rules on steel production on carbon intensity, he said, adding: "This could be a driver also to push technological innovation."

Clini said that in Europe, there was a reorganization of steel production, spurred by the new environment laws in order to cut emissions and for better waste management.

For this reason, many plants that could not afford restructuring closed down.

"In other places in Europe - like in Ruhr in Germany - production capacity was made compatible with international market needs," the former minister said.

That is to say global players should have policies according to global demand.

Clini said China is fully aware of the overcapacity issue and is also implementing new environmental measures. As a result, "a big restructuring of the Chinese steel market is taking place and China is becoming a world leader in innovative environmental technologies," he said.

"What China has done in the field of clean energy in the last 15 years has no equal," Clini added.

He said Europe should play a different role and support the creation of technological platforms between Europe and China in order to manage in a sustainable way the growing demand of energy and goods coming from China.