The Moroccan authorities have announced the imposition of a 25 percent safeguard tax on imports of hot rolled sheets (HRS), based on their preliminary determinations. The restriction will be valid for a period of 200 days. The gradual increase in imports of the mentioned product to Morocco was cited as the key reason for the introduction of the trade restriction.
According to the disclosed data, Morocco increased its HRS imports to 107,213 mt in 2018 versus 74,488 mt back in 2014. Moreover, in the January-July period of the current year Morocco imported 79,371 mt of HRS, equal to 74 percent of last year’s total volume. Between 2017 and 2018, local hot rolled sheet production and sales decreased by 19.4 percent and 28 percent, respectively.
The introduced safeguard restriction will most probably stop the HRS imports to Morocco to the benefit of the sole local flat steel producer Maghreb Steel, which has been troubled for some considerable period of time. However, some sources believe that the measure prevents the market from having fair competition, SteelOrbis understands.