The running of the steel industry should be left to private sector businesses, but the state is right to get involved, in the current climate, to ensure indigenous steel supply for defence purposes and critical infrastructure. So concluded a panel at Thursday’s European Economic Congress in Katowice attended by Kallanish.

A key theme discussed across the three conference days was security of critical materials supply, at a Polish and EU level. The steel panel saw the discussion explode into life when the moderator suggested Polish state-owned Weglokoks could consider acquiring plate producer Huta Czestochowa, currently owned by Liberty Steel and facing serious financial problems (see separate story).

Marek Serafin, chief executive of Polish coke producer Koksownia Czestochowa Nowa, said he is firmly against any state involvement in operating the steel industry. “The government is for regulation and the environment and not for investing – it should leave that to the professionals,” he noted.

Marto Jarno, director of analysis at Poland’s industry ministry, agreed but added that national defence is an important consideration in the current geopolitical climate.

Polish Steel Association president ceo Mirosław Motyka added that the state is also responsible for delivering energy and other utilities, developing a hydrogen transmission pipeline and renewable energy transmission network from new Polish offshore wind farms. This will be built using low-emission steel, the production of which requires state-private sector cooperation.

Steelmakers therefore hope for the conclusion of a European Industrial Deal, as called for in the Antwerp Declaration, Motyka pointed out.

Weglokoks chief executive Tomasz Slezak said that while steelmakers should be run by private companies, “I don’t agree with the theory that the state should not care [about the steel industry]. The state should care”. It needs to ensure steelmakers are competitive both in Europe and abroad, he added. Huta Czestochowa is worth saving and if a deal appeared to acquire it, “it would be worth going for”, he added.

Henryk Orczykowski, ceo of distributor Stalprofil, noted that while he is also a supporter of private business, the state must have an influence in industry. “We can’t talk about national security if you have no influence on the production of steel products required to ensure this security. What will we build tanks from? What will we build critical infrastructure from?” he asked.

In 2004, Poland’s steel industry was in state hands and 60% of demand was met by local output, while in 2023 the state owned zero and imports met 88% of demand, Orczykowski pointed out, adding: “This must be changed immediately.” The state must act, whether it is to acquire Czestochowa, or Celsa’s Polish plant, which is also up for sale, or form a public-private partnership, to ensure steel security, he observed. The EU could go in the same direction, he warned.

The government will support Poland’s steel industry, without getting involved in running it, and will ensure production capacity to support defence, Jarno observed.

Przemyslaw Sztuczkowski, ceo of Poland’s only indigenously-owned steelmaker, Cognor, said that while he believes all business should be in private hands, there may be a temporary need, for defence purposes, for the state to acquire Czestochowa. But it should ultimately be privatised again, he concluded.