Several EU import quotas for flat steel products have been fully or largely exhausted within the first month of the January 1–March 31 quota period, according to the latest data released by the European Commission.
Among the fully exhausted quotas, Taiwan used 100% of its 22,539 metric tons quota for organic coated sheets and its 13,256 metric tons quota for tin mill products, while China fully exhausted its 7,992 metric tons quota for other welded pipes. Turkey also used all of its 15,559 metric tons quota for organic coated sheets and completely filled the 116,832 metric tons quota for metallic coated sheets (4A) under the “other countries” category.
Quota utilization for other Turkish products also rose sharply. Turkey has already used 86.08% of its 393,977 metric tons hot rolled coil (HRC – 1A) quota, 74.38% of its 97,074 metric tons wire rod quota, and 95.26% of its 18,833 metric tons gas pipe quota. In addition, 99.57% of the 43,033 metric tons cold rolled coil (CRC) quota allocated under “other countries” has been exhausted.
Other suppliers are showing similarly high utilization rates. South Korea has used 60.95% of its 164,743 metric tons quota for metallic coated sheets (4B) and 96.53% of its 70,318 metric tons quota for organic coated sheets. China has consumed 72.18% of its 30,628 metric tons quota for electrical sheets (3B), while India has used 92.29% of its 77,805 metric tons quota for organic coated sheets.
Under the “other countries” category, Vietnam has filled 97.61% of its CRC quota, Taiwan has used 85.5% of its metallic coated sheets (4A) quota, and Japan has exhausted 79.28% of its tin mill products quota. Meanwhile, 97.86% of the 103,731 metric tons quota for metallic coated sheets (4B) under “other countries” has already been used.
The rapid depletion of quotas highlights continued strong import demand for flat steel products in the EU, despite safeguard measures remaining in place.
VietnamSteel by Hoa Sen Group
