Basson: A fair competitive environment is the key to keeping global steel trade open

"At a time when the steel industry is facing the challenge of low-carbon transformation, a fair competitive environment is the key to keeping global steel trade open." Edwin Basson, Director General of the World Steel Association, pointed out at the Singapore Green Steel Forum (SGSF) recently.

World Steel Association member units have now reached a consensus on unified principles, which will be used to formulate formal guidelines to ensure that the low-carbon transformation of the global steel industry is promoted in a responsible and transparent manner. Basson said that global steel trade has always been open, and it is also necessary to establish a fair and open trading system. "To maintain this, we need a rules-based trading environment to ensure that producers in different countries are in the same fair competitive environment." He emphasized.

"The WTO must be at the core of promoting this process." He said that countries around the world are actively formulating new "trade rules" that take into account carbon emissions and carbon costs in the steel industry, such as the EU's carbon border adjustment mechanism.

Relevant statistics show that by 2050, global steel production is expected to increase by 20% to 25% to 2.4 billion tons to 2.6 billion tons, and the limited supply of scrap steel and direct reduced iron raw materials is expected to only meet about 50% of global steel production. Against this background, low-carbon technology research and development is particularly important.