European steelmakers are lobbying hard for expedited and substantive changes to the definitive steel safeguard, including for product category one, hot-rolled coil (HRC).
Mills want the HRC quota, which is currently global, to be country-by-country as with other products. They cite surging imports in the first quarter of this year, despite the safeguard being implemented on 2 February. A total of 2.31mn t of wide HRC was imported to the EU 28 in January-March 2019, up by 15pc from 2mn t in the same period last year.
Most notable has been the growth in Turkish import volumes, which soared to 1.07mn t from 712,000t in the first quarter of 2018. Domestic mills argue that the safeguard has failed to adequately counter the diversion from the US, especially since the Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs were doubled to 50pc in August last year.
The tariffs have now been relaxed to 25pc and Turkish offers to the EU have not been competitive for the past three months or so. In fact, EU-28 exports to Turkey rose to 178,000t in March, their highest level since December 2017, as domestic sellers looked to offload tonnes in a weakening market. Turkey is also the largest market for EU HRC mills, despite volumes falling dramatically last year as the country grappled with a 50pc contraction in domestic demand.
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