31/10/2019 (Agence Europe) – On Thursday 31 October, some 16 steel industry associations from five continents welcomed the agreement reached on Saturday 26 October by a large majority of the members of the Global Forum on overcapacity in steel production to continue the Forum’s work. However, the signatories call on the “few dissenting members to reconsider their current position as quickly as possible”. The signatories represent half of the world’s steel production. The other half is produced by China. However, China did not want to continue the talks, we are told. It is, however, at the heart of the problem of overproduction in the steel sector (see EUROPE 12310/10). The joint letter was missing 3 signatories (the Korean association KOSA, Turkish Steel Producers Association and Kazakh AMME), but their absence is due to a delay in internal validation, we are told. (PH)