The EU has approved the proposal of the EU Commission regarding the adjustments of steel safeguard measures, as announced in its official statement. Accordingly, hot rolled coil products which are currently subject to the global quota will be subject to country-specific quota as of tomorrow, July 1, 2020, for those countries whose level of imports reached at least five percent of imports in the 2015-17 period, and a residual global quota for the rest.
IndustriAll European Trade Union and the European Steel Association (EUROFER) have announced that they are disappointed at the EU’s decision not to adjust the tariff-free import quota for steel, taking into account the collapse in EU steel demand. The approved adjustments are not enough in the current circumstances, according to the industry.
“We have seen a collapse of 50 percent in EU steel demand since March, but the tariff-free quota has been further raised. Objectively, this makes no sense. We had expected a clear decision for European industry. The resulting marginal technical changes may help one or other steel product group but most of our industry has been left in the cold”, said Axel Eggert, director general of EUROFER.