19 February 2025 – China issued government bonds worth 693 billion renminbi in January to support the economy. Commodity prices react with price increases. Taiwan extends anti-dumping duties on certain cold-rolled stainless steel products. CBAM: A limited number of importers are responsible for almost 99% of CO2 emissions!
China boosts consumption, raw material prices rise
China issued 693 billion renminbi worth of government bonds in January – more than twice as much as in the previous year. This signals increased efforts to support the economy. At the same time, local authorities are buying properties from distressed developers, which points to a stabilisation of the construction sector with its high steel consumption. Major mining groups are already expecting China’s recovery and global interest rate cuts to boost demand for industrial metals.
As a result of these measures, commodity prices have already started to rise due to higher demand expectations. Futures on the Asian commodity exchange SHFE for hot rolled coil (+0.68%), stainless steel (+0.34%) and copper (+0.38%) continued to improve today. Iron ore prices on the DCE commodity exchange were also positive and rose again today by around 0.86%.
Taiwan extends anti-dumping duties on certain cold-rolled stainless steel products
Yesterday, Tuesday, the Trade Remedy Commission of the Taiwanese Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) announced that the cancellation of anti-dumping duties on certain cold-rolled stainless steel products from China and Korea would probably lead to renewed damage to the domestic industry.
The products affected are flat rolled stainless steel products of the SUS 300 series, including SUS301, 304, 304L, 316, 316L and 321. Taiwan has been imposing anti-dumping duties on these imports since 2013. This was the second sunset review in which the MOF and MOEA confirmed the continuation of measures.
CBAM: limited number of importers account for almost 99% of CO2 emissions
The European Commission (EC) has a problem with its data security. This is evident, among other things, from the fact that important documents and texts marked as sensitive or internal have been leaked to the press from time to time in recent months.
This includes the current status of ‘The Clean Industrial Deal: A joint roadmap for competitiveness and decarbonisation’, which is due to be presented in the next few days.
EC: Improving the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism
An important point in the report can be found under the heading ‘Improving the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism’. It states, among other things:
‘Yet, data collected to date indicate that a limited number of importers account for almost 99% of greenhouse gas emissions embedded in imported goods. The Commission is proposing to
substantially simplify CBAM, reducing administrative burden on industries and their supply chains while continuing to incentivise global carbon pricing. This is a first but necessary step to making the CBAM more effective.’Source: The Clean Industrial Deal: A joint roadmap for competitiveness and decarbonisation
CBAM bureaucracy madness must be suspended now
This statement alone should be enough to ensure that the administrative and bureaucratic burden that CBAM places on the ailing competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises in Europe must be suspended immediately and abolished in the short term. CBAM must concentrate solely on the importers of these CO2 emissions, which will in all probability be found in the sectors that CBAM is already intended to protect: European producers of steel, aluminium, cement, fertilisers and hydrogen.
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