The European Commission recently issued recommendations to the governments of the member states, which need to find solutions to compensate for the price increases, following the application of the new EU-ETS schemes for trading emission certificates. In an interview, Adrian Popescu, the general manager of the European division of the TMK group, said that, unfortunately, the settlement will be done according to the possibilities of every member state, which will lead to competitiveness discrepancies even within the European Union.
He feels that because of these emissions costs, metallurgy manufacturers will relocate to non-European countries, which have no environmental protection commitments.
Adrian Popescu said, in the interview he granted us, how much the energy costs will rise for the metallurgic industry after the implementation of the emissions trading scheme, what is the situation of the metallurgic industry in Romania and the investments made by TMK in the Romanian plants.
* Interview with Adrian Popescu, CEO of the European division of the TMK group
* European countries are looking for solutions to compensate the rise of energy costs
Reporter: What is the weight of electricity costs in the output of TMK in Romania?
Adrian Popescu: In Romania, TMK owns two metallurgical companies which, together, create an integrated technological flow: TMK-Reşiţa - maker of pipes (approximately 400,000 tons/year) and TMK-Artrom - a maker of unwelded steel pipes (almost 200,000 tons a year). 85% of the products made by TMK in Romania are exported to Europe, the USA, the Orient. In the total consolidated costs (according to the IFRS rules), considering the two activities as an integrated flow, electricity represents 7.82% out of the total costs, being the second largest element in terms of cost and size.
Reporter: Do these ene
