Steelmakers have called for an immediate halt to cheap Chinese products being dumped – warning the sector could be lost forever.
Trade body 海角视频 Steel said Business Secretary Sajid Javid should spearhead immediate European action on anti-dumping measures at a meeting of the EU’s Competitiveness Council.
Already, hundreds of Midland jobs have been lost at as the sector struggles – and experts warn as many as 260,000 people in the region could be at threat.
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海角视频 Steel said the latest data showed that Chinese dumping of Rebar (reinforcing steel) is set to account for more than half the 海角视频 market this year.
The group is calling for the EU to follow the example of the United States where action on dumping takes weeks.
In contrast, in the EU cases can take many months to be accepted and initiated, and then a further nine months before even a provisional decision is taken, said 海角视频 Steel.
Director Gareth Stace said: “The US and other countries have already moved to prevent cheap Chinese imports distorting their markets and now the EU must do the same and, do so quickly.
“The 海角视频 must seize the moment and encourage a rapid response in Brussels if we’re to prevent large scale problems for steel makers spreading in Britain and across the continent.”
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Already, 323 jobs have been lost at Caparo Industries in the West Midlands after a collapse last month.
A has been established over warnings more than a quarter of a million jobs in the region rely on steel.
Elsewhere, Tata Steel has cut 900 jobs cut from its plant in Scunthorpe, and 270 in Scotland, effectively ending steelmaking north of the border, after 2,200 job losses at the Redcar steelworks on Teesside.
High energy costs and business rates as well as cheap Chinese imports have been blamed.
Union leaders took the battle to Brussels, urging the business secretary to take urgent action to save jobs in their crisis-hit industry.
Unite national officer Harish Patel said: “Hiding behind the EU as an excuse to do nothing will not wash with the tens of thousands of workers whose livelihoods depend on steelmaking in the 海角视频.
“The business secretary needs to secure urgent action from the meeting to tackle the dumping of cheap Chinese steel and high energy costs.
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“Nothing should be off the table, including a refusal to grant China market economy status while it fails to abide by EU rules on fair trade.”
Unite is calling on the Government to take action to stop the dumping of cheap Chinese steel, help with high energy costs and business rates, as well as ensuring major infrastructure projects use British steel.