OECD meeting sheds light on capacity issue

Nov 13, 2006 | 02:06 PM | Rory Carroll

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Steel Committee meeting last week in Paris shed some light on global concerns about increasing steel capacity.

Chinese representatives, however, did not address the question of when they will shut down an estimated 100 million to 200 million tonnes of excess steel capacity, which has become a growing concern as China's overall steel capacity, and its exports, increase.

According to the OECD, raw steel production is on track to grow by approximately 90 million tonnes, or 8 percent, in 2006 to 1.22 billion tonnes as a result of synchronized production growth in most regions of the world. "The situation in world steel markets remains strong. Continued capacity expansions observed in various parts of the world could, however, endanger positive market developments," Risaburo Nezu of Japan, chairman of the OECD Steel Committee, said.....