The European steel industry is crucial to the EU economy, supplying essential products for key sectors such as automotive, construction, defence, net-zero emission technologies, and critical infrastructure, sustaining entire industrial value chains.

Around 500 production facilities across 22 Member States contribute approximately €80 billion to GDP and support over 2.5 million jobs.

However, the European steel industry is facing significant challenges: production costs have risen due to high energy prices, while prices have fallen due to increasing global excess capacity and declining demand.

As a result, EU steel production has decreased, and current capacity utilisation is below profitable levels. This situation hampers decarbonisation, as several companies have suspended investments in green steel projects. Energy-intensive sectors such as steel, metals, and chemicals are among the most vulnerable in this transition phase.

Faced with unprecedented challenges—including rising energy costs, difficulties in accessing raw materials, unfair global competition, and new US tariffs—the European steel industry’s importance and specificities call for EU-wide action.

The Clean Industrial Deal, introduced on 26 February, provides a European framework for dialogue with industries, with a particular focus on SMEs, to develop sectoral transition pathways. These pathways will enable informed investment decisions and facilitate the mobilisation of additional capital for the transition, ultimately accelerating progress towards a cleaner and more competitive industrial future.

As part of this initiative, the European Commission plans to present a Steel and Metals Action Plan, based on the Strategic Dialogue launched on 4 March.

At the launch of the Strategic Dialogue, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated:
“Our European Union was built on a coal and steel community. Steel is everywhere, from wind energy to defence. But European steel producers are at a crossroads, facing the challenges of necessary decarbonisation and partially unfair global competition. Today’s dialogue should lead to a tailored plan to help this sector decarbonise and thrive globally. We are joining forces to strongly support steel made in Europe.”

The Strategic Dialogue’s outcomes will feed into the Action Plan, outlining priority actions for the sector and long-term measures to replace existing trade defence safeguards, which are set to expire in June 2026.

The Action Plan, expected to be presented next week, will address a wide range of issues, including:

• Meeting investment needs
• Securing access to primary and secondary raw materials
• Ensuring the commercial viability of clean steel production
• Agreeing on responses to unfair and unjustified trade practices
• Identifying long-term measures to replace current safeguard mechanisms

Our team is available for further information.