VDEh Steel Institute (Düsseldorf, Germany):

H. J. Kerkhoff, President of “Steel” Economical Union, e-mail: redaktion@stahleisen.de

The following actual themes of current metal industry are discussed during Stahlmarkt 2017 conference in Düsseldorf and observed in this paper: fair conditions of competition for all metal market players; trade of carbon dioxide emissions; environmental policy and climate protection; new power engineering policy; saving of the German and European iron and steel industry. It is shown that correct usage of trade protection tools has large importance as an efficient remedy against unfair import. Different political and economical boundary conditions should be improved and used at present time to help ferrous metallurgy to overcome the existing challenges.