Brazilian importers quickly secured the majority of quotas for cold-rolled coils (CRC) and coated steel ahead of upcoming anti-dumping decisions.
The CRC inspection has exceeded the expected deadline and may be completed before the end of the year, while the production of coated steel packaging is scheduled for January 12.
Duties on targeted products are likely to exceed $200 per metric ton, market participants said, citing previous anti-dumping decisions in Brazil. Importers can still benefit from a quota system that is less stringent than potential anti-dumping tariffs.
Importers can import up to 93,478 tons of CRC and 293,239 tons of coated steel at lower tariffs in the range of 10-12%. Volumes exceeding this threshold are subject to tariffs of 25%.
From November 19 to December 2, buyers demanded 21,600 tons of CRC, compared with 7,000 tons purchased from November 5 to November 19. In the first six weeks after the quota extension, the volume of quotas for coated steel in the amount of 293,239 tons was filled by 75%.
The quota volumes are updated every four months, which reduces the cost of importing 19 types of steel products. Each company is allocated a certain amount based on its import history. Once this limit is reached, buyers will have two options: pay the 25% tariff or wait for the next quota period, which begins on February 24.
Buyers filled 294,985 tons out of 497,130 tons of the total quota for the four-month period ending February 23. In just six weeks since the volume reset, almost 60% of the allocated funds have been filled.
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