Brussels, 16/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - In a press release published on 16 March, the European Confederation of Iron and Steel Industries, Eurofer, urged the EU to provide immediate aid to European manufacturing industry in the present crisis. “The European steel industry is heavily impacted by the lack of demand. What we now urgently need is short-term measures to increase liquidity in the market, a level playing field on trade, and support for research and development in order to develop the technologies necessary to meet the EU's climate change objectives,” it said, detailing the collapse in demand, with order levels falling by 57% and consumption forecast to decline by 30% in the first quarter of 2009. Production has fallen by 30% on average, steel prices have dropped by 50% and almost 72,000 jobs (17% of the EU's steel-making workforce) have been lost or are under threat, the organisation adds. “How can our customers' confidence be restored if lending is not possible? The emergence of a risk-averse attitude of credit insurers has become a major impediment to trade. The restoration of financial market conditions is therefore the cornerstone for the sound recovery of the European economy. For this, the EU and member states must secure liquidity in the market and request the banks and the ECB to increase their credit facilities for steel customers so that orders can be placed, and introduce schemes to underwrite and increase the availability of credit insurance,” Eurofer argues. It welcomes the recent EU decision to open the way for VAT reductions in member states. (E.H./transl.rt)