London (Platts)--6Jun2007
A European Commission working paper published this week addresses concerns over European industry's ability to gain access to raw materials. "As a result of rising global demand, prices for many metals have reached record levels and Europe's capacity to provide raw materials is limited," according to a European Commission statement. "Many metallic minerals are either geologically not available within the EU or only in relatively small volumes compared with global production, e.g. copper (5%), iron ore (2%), nickel (1.7%), and zinc (8.5%)." In the case of metallic minerals, Europe's capacity to provide in its own supply through domestic extraction is very limited, the EC said, noting as an illustration that 177 million mt of metallic minerals was imported into the EU in 2004, compared with the EU's production of some 30 million mt. Access to raw materials is on the agenda of the G8 summit on June 6-8, the EC said, adding that a declaration on "Responsibility for raw materials: transparency and sustainable growth" was expected to be adopted, which will address the key priorities for a sustainable and transparent approach to this question. "European industries need predictability in the flow of raw materials and stable prices to remain competitive," Gunter Verheugen, EC vice president, said in the statement. "We are committed to improve the conditions of access to raw materials, be it within Europe or by creating a level playing field in accessing such materials from abroad." The EC staff working document was prepared based on an extensive consultation of the Raw Materials Supply Group, a stakeholder group comprising extractive and user industries, member states, environmental NGOs, trade unions and the EC. The question of availability and use of raw materials is currently being analyzed by the high level group on competitiveness, energy and the environment, which is expected to deliver policy recommendations on June 11 on a coherent approach to the issues identified, said the EC.
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