Swissmem:the steel industry is not systemically important

(Keystone-ATS) Subsidies are expensive and do not work in the long term, noted the director of Swissmen in an interview published in SonntagsBlick. Global overproduction is a structural problem. You can’t stop structural change, he said.

Although the steel industry provides very important work, it is not systemically important. “There are enough opportunities to get steel from abroad,” he said.

To support the sector, the association prefers measures such as partial unemployment. In addition, large electricity consumers such as steel companies could see the price of electricity not increase in winter, as proposed by the Energy Commission of the National Council. In return, they should commit to reducing or stopping their production in the event of an electricity shortage.

Fair conditions of competition

Stefan Brupbacher is on the same line as the Federal Council. Economy Minister Guy Parmelin also does not consider the steel industry to be of systemic importance, as he declared in March on SRF.

Stahl Gerlafingen is currently awaiting political decisions at federal level. The steelworks in the canton of Solothurn, which belongs to the Italian Beltrame group, has never requested subsidies, according to its CEO Alain Creteur. According to him, it is a question of re-establishing fair conditions of competition.