Key bodies have hit out at EU proposals to consider export duties for steel scrap.
The European Recycling Industries’ Confederation (EuRIC) and the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) raised “serious concerns” over the plan.
They spoke out after the European Commission published a European Steel and Metals Action Plan earlier this month.
This document said the Commission would “examine whether additional measures, such as export fees or export duties, are necessary to promote the availability of scrap in the EU”.
But EuRIC and BIR said in a joint statement that such measures would “risk creating new trade barriers that would harm the functioning of global recycling markets and especially European metal recyclers”.
The pair insisted that 80 per cent of the recycled materials processed in Europe were being used by the internal market with the reminder exported “due to lack of domestic demand”.
“For this reason, it is essential to put in place measures to stimulate the uptake of recycled materials in Europe instead of contemplating new measures that could undermine the open trade of recycled metals.”
The bodies called for mandatory recycled content targets for metals products.
