[Ferro-Alloys.com] The European Union is looking to reorganise its restrictions on steel imports in a preemptive decision to protect the bloc from majors economic fluctuations as it recovers from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. European Commission said in a notice “It is fundamental that the gradual resumption of activity and return to normality take place in an orderly manner, in such a way that all participants in the EU steel market find their traditional place. The proposed adjustments should deter any undue stockpiling behavior in the very early phases of the recovery that could empty the market in an opportunistic manner. These opportunistic practices not only seriously endanger the obligation to preserve traditional trade flows in terms of origins, but also risk unduly displacing domestic production.”

 

The measures will see the introduction of a 25% tariff on imports of 26 steel types including stainless hot-rolled, cold-rolled sheets to rebars, and railway material after those shipments surpass the three-year average. The new regime does not include quota-reductions. The importation limits or tariff-rate quotas will see a shift to quarterly management of all country-specific quotas and will replace a global TRW for hot-rolled flat products with combined country-specific quotas for the largest suppliers and residual quotas others.

 

The changes are geared to begin on 1 July and will apply to import curbs brought in two years ago to prevent flooding of the European markets after the US introduced a 25% tariff on imports.

 

Source : STEELGURU