EU action on cheap steel imports from China not enough- industry

DUESSELDORF, Germany, March 17 (Reuters) - The European Union's import duties on low-price steel imports from China are not enough to solve the problems faced by Europe's struggling producers, the CEO of German producer Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe said on Thursday.

EU action taken so far could be "too little, too late" as the Europe's steel industry fights for its survival, said Andreas Goss, head of the European steel unit of German group Thyssenkrupp (LSE: 0O1C.L - news) .

Europe must act more forcibly and quickly like the United States to deal with steel "dumping" by China, Goss told the CRU World Steel Conference in Duesseldorf.

"The situation is serious, more serious than we have seen for many years," Goss said.

European steelmakers have been hit by a plunge in steel prices blamed largely on a surge in cheap exports from China, where overcapacity has been exacerbated by declining domestic demand.

The European Commission announced plans on Wednesday to speed up trade defence cases against cheap imports from China and urged EU member states to end measures that could block higher duties on dumped and subsidised products.

In February, EU regulators opened three anti-dumping investigations into Chinese steel products and imposed new duties on imports, following calls for action from the EU steel industry.

The EU had imposed import duties of 14 to 16 percent on some steel products against anti-dumping duties of over 260 percent that are possible in the United States, Goss said.

"This is a slap on the wrist," he said.

Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the conference he said the EU needed a "more efficient and more effective" strategy to face the impact of cheap Chinese imports.

Asked about the level of EU duties he said: "This will not be sufficient to deal with the problem that we have."

The EU is one of the few open steel markets as market access is heavily restricted in much of the world said, said Henrik Adam, chief commercial officer of Indian group Tata Steel Ltd (BSE: TATASTEEL.BO - news) , Britain's largest steelmaker.

"We need a level playing field," Adam said.

The EU's import action could cause "some tightening of the supply side in Europe," said Matthew Watkins of analysts CRU.

"But there is a lot of steel around the world and some of this could end up in Europe," he said.

The potential for prices to rise in the coming months could be "capped by oversupply," Watkins said. (Reporting by Michael Hogan, editing by David Evans)