Steel imports quickly fill EU protective quotas in the third quarter
Some of the protective steel import quotas set by the European Commission have already been introduced, just four days before the start of the customs clearance period in the third quarter (July-September).
For hot-rolled coils from Taiwan, the 13% limit has been exceeded for individual countries applying these measures."Quota of other countries", which is 112,707 tons. Meanwhile, South Korea's individual quota for the supply of hot-rolled coils is almost full, and 83% of the 163,078 tons have already been allocated for customs clearance.
However, for Egypt, Vietnam and Japan using the same category of rolls, the import volumes were zero. These countries are still subject to temporary anti-dumping duties, which encourages importers to use alternative sources such as Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, which are not subject to protective measures.
Speaking in an episode of the podcast "Market in Minutes" dedicated to Southern Europe, steel market analyst Benedikte Mikolajczak said this week that imports will continue to put downward pressure on steel prices in the EU, despite tougher trade protection measures. She said: "Recent changes in the EU's protective measures have introduced additional import restrictions, introducing restrictions within the quotas of "other countries" that already existed for hot-rolled coils, but now also apply to cold-rolled and galvanized.
" But in fact, this did not prevent importers from importing. As we continue to see, quotas are being filled. Today is July 1st, and we will probably see again that some quotas for hot-rolled, galvanized, and possibly cold-rolled products will be filled very quickly again."
Various countries exceed the new quota limits
As well as the rapidly filling tariff rates of the quota for hot-rolled coils, as mentioned above, Turkey has already exceeded its individual quota for cold-rolled coils of 43,990 tons. In addition, Taiwan and Japan have already spent 35% and 42% of their respective allocations.
As for the European Commission's tariff quota for coated rolls, Vietnam has already exceeded its limit of 119,429 tons within the quarterly quota of the "other countries" category. for material 4A. Taiwan and Turkey are also approaching their individual limits, with only 22% and 50% remaining, respectively. Meanwhile, India still has 26% of the allocated individual quotas.
Regarding category 4B coated rolls, which are widely used in the European automotive sector, China has used up its individual quotas again, while Turkey and Vietnam have exceeded the 20% limit. as for the tariff quota for products "for other countries".
Among the categories of long products that are subject to