Turkey has announced in its Official Gazette that it has increased import duty rates on some steel products, mainly flat steel products, and has adjusted the duty rates for end-user industries to help protect domestic steel production and employment. The revised duties will stay in force from April 18 until July 15, 2020 and will be applied for the products coming from third countries only. EU and FTA countries remain exempt from the trade restriction.
Along with the key duty rate revisions provided in the table below, there are a couple of exemptions which cover most of the hot rolled coil (HRC) imports to the country. In particular, HRC imports by re-rolling companies and welded pipe producers will be subject to eight percent duty instead of the six percent valid earlier, indicating only a minor increase. Imports made by white goods producers are now subject to nine percent duty instead of seven percent, SteelOrbis understands.
Most market insiders, however, believe that the adjusted trade measure will have no significant impact on import activities since the rule of the inward processing regime remains valid. “The main imports are coming from third countries like the CIS, while Europe, South Korea and some others are exempt, the same as previously,” a producer said. “If you import for export purposes there is no tax, so these [new rates] don’t make much sense,” he added. It is worth mentioning that over the past two weeks, Turkey booked over 200,000 mt of HRC from the CIS alone, all for May production. The sales for June production and July deliveries are expected to be started in the coming 10 days.
On the other hand, with the highest duties in place for import HRC, local producers in Turkey are expected to increase their domestic prices since in theory it is more risky to buy HRC of import origin, especially if buyers’ export activities are limited. “It is a move to push the local market up and to show some sort of governmental support,” a trader stated.
|
HS codes |
Product |
Former duty rate (%) |
New duty rate (%) |
|
7207 |
Billet |
12 |
17 |
|
7208 |
Hot rolled flat products |
13 |
18 |
|
7208 |
Mainly hot rolled coils |
9 |
14 |
|
7209 |
Mainly cold rolled coils |
10 |
15 |
|
7210 |
Coated flat products |
15 |
20 |
|
7211 |
Uncoated flat products (<600 mm) |
10 |
15 |
|
7211 |
Uncoated flat products (>600 mm) |
15 |
20 |
|
7212 |
Coated flat products (<600 mm) |
15 |
20 |
|
7216 |
Non-alloyed sections |
17 |
22 |
|
7219-7220 |
Stainless cold rolled coil |
12 |
17 |
|
7224 |
Alloy billet & bloom |
14 |
19 |
|
7225 |
Alloy hot rolled coil |
6 |
11 |
|
7228 |
Alloy bar and sections |
7 10 9 |
12 15 14 |