The European Commission has announced that it has set out the detailed country allocation of tariff quotas under the EU's new steel trade regime. The total annual tariff quota volume of 18.35 million mt will be distributed across 26 steel product categories, replacing the previous safeguard quota administration. Each quota is divided equally into four quarterly volumes.
Half of the import quotas have been allocated exclusively to free trade agreement (FTA) partners, while the remaining half will be available to all exporting countries, including FTA partners.
Three different quota access mechanisms established
The regulation establishes three different quota access mechanisms depending on the exporting country's status.
Countries receiving a country-specific quota (CSQ) may use their allocated quota immediately. Once exhausted, eligible FTA partners may continue exporting under an additional FTA Quota - CSQ, which is administered on a first-come, first-served basis.
Countries without country-specific quotas may instead access:
- “Other countries” quota: accessible for the exporting countries which are not FTA partners.
- FTA Quota - Other countries quota: accessible for the exporting countries which are FTA partners.
HRC represents almost one-third of total tariff quota volume
The Commission highlights Category 1A (non-alloy and other alloy hot rolled sheets and strips) represents almost one-third of the total tariff quota volume. Total Category 1A quota volume is now almost 5.2 million mt, compared to 7.7 million mt in the previous quota year (July 1, 2025-June 30, 2026).
For category 1A, Turkey receives the largest country-specific quota of 642,295 mt, followed by India (597,274 mt), Japan (551,539 mt), Ukraine (483,529 mt), South Korea (461,830 mt), Vietnam (414,972 mt), Egypt (404,929 mt), Taiwan (278,923 mt) and Serbia (258,095 mt). These countries can use FTA Quota - CSQ once their CSQs are exhausted, as mentioned above.
Looking at the other high-volume quotas, in the new system the quotas allocated for CRC and metallic coated sheets (4A) are at 3.9 million mt and 2.4 million mt, respectively, compared to 1.5 million mt and 1.6 million mt, respectively, in the previous quota year.