European carmakers’ steel supplies are secure, manufacturers told Reuters, playing down prospects that shortages could hit output as they have at Nissan Motor.
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But even if enough steel is on hand, high prices still pose a danger for carmakers who are hardly placed to pass on increased costs to choosy customers in a sluggish market kept under pressure by excess capacity, analysts reportedly said.
“We consider that the situation on the European market is not as tense as it is on the Japanese market,” a spokesman for Arcelor, the world’s biggest steelmaker and the leading provider of steel to the automotive sector, told Reuters.
“We are supplying all our customers,” Erwin Schneider, a spokesman for Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Steel, Europe’s fourth-largest steelmaker by production volume, told the news agency.
Major customers in the car and truck sector contacted by Reuters also insisted production was not jeopardised.
“This is a problem being faced by Nissan, but not one that is affecting Renault. Renault has no problems with steel availability,” said a spokeswoman for the French carmaker told Reuters, adding: “Concerning steel prices, we have contracts that mean we are well protected.”
Sweden’s Volvo, the world’s second-biggest truckmaker, is having no steel problems, spokesman Marten Wikforss told the news agency. He reportedly said: “We have noted that the price inflation in raw materials is outpacing overall inflation, but that is a far cry from there being a shortage. We have not seen that.”
Rival truckmaker Scania sees no risks of running out of steel, spokesman Hans-Ake Danielsson told Reuters. He added: “We have not really heard of any steel shortage in Europe. The steel is there if you are willing to pay for it.”
A BMW spokesman told Reuters: “We have long-term contracts with our suppliers. Our steel supplies are not in danger.”
Ford and Fiat reportedly said output was normal.
