The European Commission's steel import safeguard measures will now apply to all-origin automotive-grade hot-dipped galvanised (HDG) coils, falling under the 4B category, a document obtained by Argus shows. The commission has also extended the safeguards until 30 June 2024.
The commission launched a review into the safeguards to determine if they should be terminated early, which concluded that "an increase in the volume of imports… could undermine significantly any meaningful economic recovery and the efforts being made by the Union steel industry in its process of adjustment to a higher level of imports".
The commission also concluded that there was no shortage of steel in the bloc as a result of the safeguards, adding that any recent changes to
the Section 232 tariffs did not alter the risk of trade diversion to the EU.
The commission noted that it analysed a "rather gloomy forecast for the global steel sector, including the Union market, for 2023-24", which was underpinned by high uncertainty associated with the war in Ukraine, inflation, increased energy prices and an economic slowdown.
The commission has decided to tweak the developing list of countries to which the measures apply — Brazil has been added to the safeguards for hot-rolled coils (HRC) and cold-rolled coils (CRC), whereas most developing countries are now exempt of the non-auto-grade HDG quotas. The quotas for the 4A product category still apply for key suppliers Vietnam, Turkey and India, while the auto-grade 4B measures are applicable for all-origin HDG.
The EU automotive sector has continued to struggle with recovery this year, despite a few months of increasing passenger car registrations.
