Brussels, 04 July 2024, Ludovic Piraux, President of Glass Fibre Europe and CEO of 3B-the fibreglass company, joined industry leaders, trade union representatives, and European Commission officials at the Antwerp Dialogue on Trade. The event, co-organised by Cefic, IndustriAll Europe, and AEGIS Europe, took place at the IndustriAll offices and focused on the critical challenges facing European industries, including the urgent need to prevent further deindustrialisation and address global overcapacity issues.
During the event, Ludovic Piraux emphasized the strategic importance of glass fibre, a material essential for Europe’s green and digital transformation. “Glass fibre is the cornerstone of the glass-based composite materials and technical textile industries, integral to applications from wind turbines to automotive parts,” said Piraux. “However, the European industry is under threat due to the market conditions worsening by the day. State-owned Chinese companies are expanding production both within China and in third countries like Egypt and Bahrain. This has led to massive excess capacities and a flood of undercut-priced products into the European market.”
Piraux called for immediate and decisive trade defence measures to counter these predatory strategies:
- Broaden existing measures to include all glass fibre products, from reinforcements to yarns.
- Increase duties on Chinese imports to re-establish a level playing field.
- Address the strategic investments by Chinese companies in economic enclaves in third countries that are used to circumvent European trade defence measures.
“It is not too late, but it is very urgent to implement these measures to safeguard this essential and growing industry in Europe,” Piraux concluded. “Failing to act will jeopardize not only our glass fibre industry but also the entire downstream value chain of composites, undermining Europe’s strategic autonomy.”
The discussions at the Antwerp Dialogue will inform concrete policy recommendations for the upcoming European Commission, as leaders work to ensure the future competitiveness and sustainability of European industries.
