Turkey has increased its import duty for
stainless steel cold rolled flat products from two percent to eight percent, effective immediately, for all countries except the European Union and South Korea with which
Turkey has signed free trade agreements, according to an announcement by
Turkey's Ministry of Economy published in the Official Gazette on October 30, 2013.
The hike in import duty is expected to first hit all imports of the mentioned products from
Taiwan,
China,
Vietnam and
India, from which four sources
Turkey bought 102,480 mt of its total of 243,799 mt of
stainless steel cold rolled flat product imports in the first eight months of the current year, according to to the data provided by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK).
Since the import duty for imports of the abovementioned products from South Korea is zero, South Korean steel giant
POSCO's subsidiary in
Turkey,
Posco Assan TST, is expected to strengthen its position in the Turkish domestic market, as the company produces
stainless steel cold rolled coils and sheets, using imported
stainless steel hot rolled coil and sheets from South Korea.
Stainless steel cold rolled coils, for which the import duty has risen from two percent to eight percent, are classified under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheadings 7219.31.00.00.00, 7219.32.10.00.00, 7219.32.90.00.00, 7219.33.10.00.00, 7219.33.90.00.00, 7219.34.10.00.00, 7219.34.90.00.00, 7219.35.10.00.00, 7219.35.90.00.00, 7220.20.21.00.11, 7220.20.29.00.11, 7220.20.41.00.11, 7220.20.49.00.11, 7220.20.81.00.11 and 7220.20.89.00.11.