EU 'other countries' steel quotas reset

EU steel quotas for 'other countries' are to be boosted today, as exporters that have exhausted their country-specific allocation secure access.

The total volume accessible to 'other countries' equals anything remaining from the 2 February-31 March period plus the quota set for 'other countries' for the second quarter (see tables). The residual amount has not yet been published by the European Commission, but on 29 March it was 42,087t for hot-rolled coil (HRC), 28,976t for rebar, zero for wire rod and 702t for automotive galvanised coil (4B).

Exporters can clear their material duty-free on a first come, first served basis. This puts smaller players not given a country-specific quota at a disadvantage, as big suppliers rush to shift as much tonnage as possible before the 'other countries' quota is also exhausted.

In the case of wire rod, for example, both Turkey and Russia have filled their allocations, and the 'other countries' quota until 31 March is also filled. This means that as of today, the two countries are competing for just 74,518t with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Japan, South Korea and thye UAE, which all supplied smaller amounts of wire rod to the EU last year, but not enough to warrant their own quotas.

Exporters of automotive galvanised coils are in a similar position, and smaller suppliers, such as Tunisia, the UAE, Ukraine, Turkey and Vietnam are competing with China.