Brussels, 20/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 18 September, the European Commission launched a consultation of the stakeholders of the metal industry of the Union, to prepare a communication to propose political actions to allow the European metal industry to adapt to the new context of globalisation. With a turnover of 227 billion EUR in 2003, and employing nearly 1.06 million across 14,855 businesses, the European metals industry has seen a sharp increase in pressure in terms of access to raw materials used in the production of metals. Bolstered by growing demand from the emerging countries, the prices of all metals are reaching new record levels. As metals are vital raw materials in most of the manufacturing industries of the Union (automotive, aerospace, chemicals, electronics and mechanics) and the construction sectors, this development is a considerable challenge for European businesses. At this stage, the Commission's analysis shows that raw materials and energy are the main factors behind the competitiveness of the European metal industry. Within the various metal-related subsectors, the costs of energy and raw materials represent between 50 and 90% of the total costs of the production of refined metals. The Commission's studies also show that China is the main challenge faced by the Union in terms of competitiveness and structural change. All told, with the exception of copper and nickel, for which Chile and Russia respectively are the largest producers, China has become the largest producer of metals and a major rival for the Union on the global market of metal raw materials. Furthermore, China is a massive consumer of metals (the world's largest for steel and zinc) and is currently catching up with the Union, which still held the first place in 2004, for aluminium, copper, lead and nickel.
The Commission, which hopes to gather comments and suggestions on future political choices in the fields of waste, energy, trade and research, is seeking the opinion of the stakeholders on the following questions: - how can we encourage the drafting of construction standards aiming to reinforce the recycling of metals?; - how can we put together the best possible technical guidelines for alloys within the framework of REACH?; - what kind of impact might the full liberalisation of the energy markets have on the competitiveness of the metal sector?; - how can international free competition in the production and sales of metals be guaranteed? (The public consultation can be found at the following address: http: //ec.europa.eu/enterprise/steel/index_en.htm).