Tata UK lambasts importers' TRA submissions

Spanish Market: Metals
12/05/25

Claims by the International Steel Trade Association and importers in the Trade Remedies Authority's (TRA) safeguard review are "factually incorrect", Tata Steel UK has said

Importers have stated — accurately — that Tata does not produce 2m-wide hot-rolled coil, or material with a tensile strength of over 500 megapascal, so these products should not be under the scope of the safeguard. In a rebuttal submission released by the TRA today, Tata said such specifications "constitute a small proportion of the overall market", and that current quotas are more than sufficient to provide import choice.

Should these grades be excluded from the safeguard, Tata — which is effectively a re-roller until its electric arc furnace becomes operational — said importers could circumvent the safeguard, importing higher grades "at much lower prices" to compete with material produced and sold by Tata.

Tata said wider coil is "often imported only to be slit into narrower cuts", meaning it is not fundamentally different from material it sells domestically. Some applications do require decoiled 2m-wide material, but Tata suggests this is a small proportion of the overall market. No end-users have raised concerns regarding supply of such material, Tata said, adding that sufficient tonnes could be imported from the EU or Turkey, origins with quotas that are "consistently underutilised quarter after quarter".

Buyers just want such products to be excluded so they can "access significantly lower-priced imports", it said.

Tata has requested quotas be amended in line with the demand reduction seen in recent years, and that caps are implemented on other countries' quota for hot-dip galvanised. Should a cap of 25pc be imposed, which is what the market anticipates, some traders said material currently on route to the UK could still be clearing in January 2026.

The TRA is expected to release its initial findings this week.

By Colin Richardson

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11/06/25

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11/06/25

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