A march supported by European steel producers’ association Eurofer is taking place today in Brussels at 11:30am local time to protest against unfair Chinese dumping into the EU. The march will be joined by steel companies’ chief executives, trade unions, and around 20 members of the European Commission. Also present will be representatives of other industries that have been impacted by China-origin imports, such as the solar panel sector, Kallanish learns from Eurofer.

“The European steel industry has been dramatically affected by massive Chinese imports at unfair prices, and just over the last three months 5,000 jobs have been lost,” a Eurofer spokesperson comments. “We are all taking to the streets to officially ask the European Union to impose effective measure as soon as possible.”

“The bureaucratic time frame to adopt anti-dumping duties can go up to 15 months and our industry cannot possibly wait such a long time,” she continues. “We want The European Commission to take immediate action, or our sector together with other industry sectors will certainly collapse.” The association is also urging the EU not to grant China Market Economy Status (MES).

As reported, the march is being organised under the umbrella of AEGIS Europe. This is an alliance of 30 European industrial sectors including steel, aluminium, ceramics, glass, solar panels and bicycle manufacturing, among others. The march will follow a route around Brussels’ EU quarter.