The UK’s Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) has announced that it has initiated both a suspension review and a tariff rate quota (TRQ) review on hot rolled flat and coil steel imports, to manage the projected reduction in domestic production of the given products.
The reviews have been launched against the backdrop of the plan of Tata Steel UK, subsidiary of Indian steel producer Tata Steel, to close its two blast furnaces at the Port Talbot plant as part of a transition to electric arc furnace steelmaking. If the company closes its furnaces, the sole UK producer Tata Steel UK’s hot rolled flat and coil steel production will decrease for a while, leading to greater imports to meet local demand, and so the current tariff rate quota for the given product would be insufficient.
In the event of the suspension of the 25 percent tariff (imposed when quota volumes are exceeded), the products not subject to separate antidumping duties would enter the UK duty-free. Based on the applications and from other evidence available on the current state of the market, the TRA intends to recommend to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade that the safeguard measure on hot rolled flat and coil steel be suspended for nine months.
In addition, during the review the TRA may consider whether the amount or allocation of the TRQ is now appropriate for domestic market conditions in light of production changes at Port Talbot. The TRQ review is expected to take longer than the suspension review.