Ukraine, Russia EU rebar quotas at critical level

Both Ukraine and Russia are at critical levels for their duty-free rebar quotas into the EU, with only 5,915t remaining on the Russian allowance and 8,596t remaining on that of Ukraine.

At the beginning of the period on 1 July, Russia had an original allocation of 241,998t and Ukraine 160,848t. However, steel exports from the CIS countries to the EU were relatively slow until main competitor Turkey exhausted its 301,537t quota in October. At this point, both Ukraine and Russia were able to sell competitively into the EU so they ramped up sales.

For EU rebar importers, after Russia and Ukraine exhaust their quotas, the only option will be to buy rebar from Bosnia and Herzegovina, which at present has about 65,000t remaining, and Moldova, with 27,000t remaining. The other countries' quota stands at 131,000t but it will renew for the quarter on 1 April. At this point, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey all will be able to access this allowance, up to a maximum of 30pc per country to prevent any one country monopolising the allocation. Individual country quotas now renew only once per year, on 1 July.

Turkey's wire rod quota has also reached a critical level, with just 13,557t remaining out of a total of 312,081t for the rest of the period. Turkey ramped up wire rod sales to the EU after it exhausted its rebar quota amid a flat domestic market and limited export opportunities for its long products. Turkey will also be able to access 30pc of the other countries' quota for wire rod when it renews on 1 April, but this is significantly smaller, at about 77,000t.

By Sara Warden