China’s excess capacity is a source of problems for the steel industry – Interpipe CEO

China’s excess capacity is the root cause of many problems in the steel industry. This opinion was expressed by Interpipe CEO Luca Zanotti in an interview with Forbes.

He noted that it is difficult to determine the volume of this excess capacity due to opaque figures.

“According to some estimates, the surplus is approximately 50-70 million tons. In the first eight months of 2025, China exported more than 75 million tons. To get an idea of the scale of these exports, consider that the US, one of the largest consumers of steel, consumes about 80 million tons,” explained Luca Zanotti.

The CEO of Interpipe recalled that these surpluses, combined with declining demand, have been flooding the markets for years. At the same time, China is not a market economy, so it does not play on equal terms with others.

The US was obviously the first to realize the threat of this overproduction and the potential painful consequences not only for steel but also for the entire manufacturing industry. Accordingly, in 2018, the country recognized steel as a matter of national security and introduced a 25% tariff.

After that, Chinese steel was redirected to other markets. Now, Zanotti noted, Europe is also beginning to defend itself.

“It’s a chain reaction. Global trade is collapsing. This is a problem for us because we are an export-oriented company,” he explained.

As a reminder, the European Commission will propose to almost halve steel import quotas and increase tariffs on volumes exceeding these levels to 50%, in line with the tariffs introduced by the US and Canada. The EC will officially present a new package of measures for the steel sector on October 7.

As reported by GMK Center, Luca Zanotti believes that Ukraine needs to establish garden wall-type protective mechanisms in the domestic market to protect industries that will be crucial for the country’s future.