Arab Steel reported that the Arab Iron and Steel Union General Assembly held its regular 41st round of meetings at the Sheraton Hotel in Algiers on June 1st 2010. A concluding statement was issued of these meetings in which the participants demanded that Arab governments must take suitable measures to protect Arab steel industry form dumping risks in several Arab countries.

The participants stressed the importance of facing the negative effects of dumping which constitute a real threat to the major investments put into the Arab steel industry in order to develop the local industry and meet the growing needs of local markets.
Investments in this industry exceeded billions of dollars, along with huge amounts of working capital that will be endangered in turn due to dumping hazards and the instability facing this industry which has production capacities of long products in the excess of 20 million tonne per year.

Participants representing more than 70 companies from 16 Arab countries members to the Arab Iron & steel Union emphasized the importance of achieving Arab integration in this industry by reinforcing integration in production processes and increasing inter Arab trade that shall lessen the reliance on imports of long products and semis. Participants saw a threat in the rising volume of imports from several exporting countries targeting Arab markets at dumping prices and that they jeopardize the efforts aimed to develop this industry and its promising future in the Arab world.

In a concluding statement, participants agreed that the danger of dumping is not restricted to the industry stakeholders be they governments or private owners, who provide hundreds of thousands of job opportunities for workers in those mills numbering more than a quarter of a million working hands. Thus, this danger extends to industries affiliated to the steel industry, as every worker in the steel industry contributes in providing job opportunities for 8 workers in other affiliated industries.

Participants also expressed their appreciation of the positive role the governments stimulus packages is playing in supporting the ability of the steel industry to face the crisis. These policies were able to develop the demand in local markets. Yet, in the absence of measures protecting the local production, doors were open to import large volumes of steel that damaged local producers who are trying to get this industry up on its feet, a thing which entails taking measures to prevent the aggravation of this damage in the future.

(Sourced from Arab Steel)