24 November 2025 – Following the large German steel summit, a small steel summit has now followed in Berlin, which turned once again with renewed and once more one-sided demands to domestic politics and feels like an open declaration of war on the downstream industry.
- Small German Steel Summit – A Declaration of War on the Downstream
- Electricity prices down 60% since 2022
- German steel propaganda paper mentions only politically favourable figures
- Export ban on steel scrap would create an enormous mountain of waste
- Further increase in costs for downstream via CBAM
- The outcry for tariffs an open declaration of war on the downstream industry
- Steel producers want to suppress criticism of tariffs
- Self-inflicted problems of the steel producers
- German steel lobby without any real plan for the future
- Steel lobby demands from the state the weapons of war to force its will on the downstream
Small German Steel Summit – A Declaration of War on the Downstream
Following the large German steel summit, a small steel summit has now followed in Berlin, which turned once again with renewed and once more one-sided demands to domestic politics.
Electricity prices down 60% since 2022
Thus, the German Steel Federation again demanded that electricity prices be lowered, even though these have already been reduced by more than 60% for large consumers with state-subsidised electricity prices compared with 2022.
German steel propaganda paper mentions only politically favourable figures
WV Stahl in its position paper also compares production volumes and years with each other that are politically favourable for the German steel producers, even though significantly better figures from 2024 are already available. Even for steel imports, obvious deception manoeuvres are used, setting the almost unchanged imports from third countries in relation to the decreased crude steel production in Europe. The downstream industry needs its imports because it simply is not supplied by domestic producers for important products.
Export ban on steel scrap would create an enormous mountain of waste
Furthermore, CO2 costs and the renewed demand for export bans on steel scrap appear again in the paper. Yet domestic steel producers do not even want to use old scrap, which is often contaminated with high copper content, in their facilities – but only the high-purity steel scrap grades. The mountain of unwanted steel scrap that would remain lying in EU landfills in the event of an export ban would, within a few years, grow to untenable conditions.
Further increase in costs for downstream via CBAM
For this, they naturally also want to continue increasing the prices for imports with CBAM, even though the steel producers collect billions in hidden subsidies through millions of free EU ETS certificates. In 2023 alone, the costs to the taxpayer amounted to more than 13 billion euros, of which more than 3 billion euros went directly into the mills’ pockets as windfall profits due to surplus certificates.
The outcry for tariffs an open declaration of war on the downstream industry
Ultimately, the outcry for tariffs on steel imports and tariff rate quotas remains, which would benefit only the steel producers themselves and which, as became known last week, are already being used as leverage in negotiations with steel consumers even before their introduction (how fitting that at this time of year some annual contracts are up for negotiation!).
Steel producers want to suppress criticism of tariffs
The loud calls of domestic steel producers for a rapid and uncritical implementation and introduction of tariffs and quotas can already be described as a war in words against the downstream industry. They want to force market shares and higher prices with it that they cannot even serve or do not even want.
Self-inflicted problems of the steel producers
The self-inflicted problems of the steel producers, which are being hidden under a dangerous propaganda machinery (and nothing else can currently be perceived from these camps) of half-truths, are designed solely for the benefit of the large mills. Thus, in the latest political artillery attack by the steel lobby, there are once again only selfish demands at the expense of the downstream industry and taxpayers.
German steel lobby without any real plan for the future
No plans for an economic boost, no targets for the buyers of steel. They demand only more and more money, aid, and protection from the state – and at the same time want to drive prices even higher with tariffs, even though hot rolled coil has already risen by almost 60% over the past ten years. In comparison, the increase in energy prices at 11% over the same period appears almost laughably low.
Steel lobby demands from the state the weapons of war to force its will on the downstream
And to stay with the aforementioned wording, the German steel lobby is demanding from the state the weapons of war to force its will on the downstream market and drive it into capitulation. Yet the steel producers forget that this downstream, which is shaped mostly by small and medium-sized companies, is exactly the one that pays their bills – on the one hand as customers and on the other as a motor of the economy and demand.
But this is typical of the political basic attitude toward small and medium-sized businesses in Germany and Europe. As former Federal Minister of Economic Affairs Christian Lindner recently said on television: “If the automotive industry, small and medium-sized businesses, and eastern Germany are the problem, then that shows what is truly going wrong in Germany.”
Latest news
- Steel Tariffs: EU Steel Lobby Calls for Breach of Democracy
- CBAM: Were the Specific Embedded Emissions Produced by EU NGOs?
- CBAM: Beware of the “Leaked” Country Specific Embedded Emissions
We at the Gerber Group have been trading in stainless steel worldwide for over 20 years. We are your experts when it comes to purchasing, import, logistics and services. Information is a vital part of this. Because only then can you and we make the right decisions. Do you have any questions? Contact us now.
Disclaimer: Many things here represent our opinion. Others are information from the Internet. We can therefore never claim to be correct or complete. And never base a business decision solely on the news you receive from us.
