The steel industry has a serious problem with size: it needs to slim down.
Around the world, a surplus of factories pose a threat to the sector’s health, according to industry executives. Even a recent rally in steel prices, efforts by China to shrink its extensive industry and moves to deter imports in many regions have failed to assuage concerns.
“Our current [global] overcapacity issue is bad,” said John Ferriola, chief executive of US group Nucor, speaking at the World Steel Association’s annual general meeting in Brussels earlier this month. “[It] results in a high level of exports that in some cases are illegally subsidised and dumped in other nations.”