Steel prices

摘要

Eurofer (the steelmakers' association) says that it has not filed a complaint to the Commission yet, but that surges of low-priced rebar from Turkey during the first quarter of this year disrupted markets in Greece, Italy and Spain severely enough to warrant one. A formal request to intervene in the trade is likely to revive the sensitive question of Turkey's application to join the EU, so Eurofer will probably proceed with caution. Imports of structurals are under already constraint, but this is something of a regulatory accident. Building safety considerations require certification of beams as to their load-bearing and durability quality. Until now certification has been a national responsibility but in a move to simplify the working of the single market the Commission has required that from September beams have to be certified to a single standard, and carry the "CE" certification mark. This is not strictly necessary in the UK, which has secured one of its celebrated "opt outs" but the system is likely to be observed informally even here.