S&P Global reported that the European Commission is set to propose an updated European Union steel import safeguards regime later this month, with a view to effecting any changes in July. An EC spokesperson said in an email “The review is still ongoing and should be concluded and adopted in time for any changes to apply as of 1 July 2022. The Commission expects to issue a WTO notification with the main elements of the proposal towards the end of May or early June at the latest.”EU steel consumers' associations have lobbied during the current review for the safeguards to be annulled or suspended, or tariff-rate quotas to be increased. They argue the safeguards have contributed to high prices and product scarcity in the EU market and that the ban on imports of Russian steel and new trade opportunities for EU steel in the US now renders them unnecessary. In September 2021, Brussels-based steel consumers' group European Association of Non-Integrated Metal Importers & Distributors Euranimi brought legal action to the General Court of the European Union in Luxembourg, requesting annulment of the three-year extension from June 2021 of the safeguard measure, alleging a manifest error of assessment on the part of the EC in the determination of serious injury and likelihood of serious injury from steel imports.However, European steel producers' association EUROFER counters that the steel import safeguards continue to avoid serious disruption from sudden import surges without micro-managing supply or prices. EUROFER said “Having peaked in March, European steel prices are now quickly and significantly decreasing, below US price level, as steel users are limiting orders speculating on further price decreases,”Safeguard system, involving tariff-rate quotas, was introduced mid-2018 to curb trade deviation following US president Trump's introduction of 25% tariffs on steel product imports from many countries under Section 232 legislation in March that year. From January 1 2022, Section 232 charges on EU steel have been replaced by a tariff-rate quota accord on trade between the parties concerned. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, the EC reallocated Russia's and Belarus' product quota among other exporting countries.The current review of the EU's system safeguards system, the fourth review of the system, was brought forward to December 2021, with contributions from interested parties required by 10 January. The review covers 26 product categories, including hot-rolled sheets and strips, cold rolled sheets, metallic coated sheets, tin mill products, stainless hot and cold rolled sheets and strips, merchant bars, light and hollow sections, rebars, wire rod, railway material, and seamless and welded tubes.
S&P Global reported that the European Commission is set to propose an updated European Union steel import safeguards regime later this month, with a view to effecting any changes in July. An EC spokesperson said in an email “The review is still ongoing and should be concluded and adopted in time for any changes to apply as of 1 July 2022. The Commission expects to issue a WTO notification with the main elements of the proposal towards the end of May or early June at the latest.”EU steel consumers' associations have lobbied during the current review for the safeguards to be annulled or suspended, or tariff-rate quotas to be increased. They argue the safeguards have contributed to high prices and product scarcity in the EU market and that the ban on imports of Russian steel and new trade opportunities for EU steel in the US now renders them unnecessary. In September 2021, Brussels-based steel consumers' group European Association of Non-Integrated Metal Importers & Distributors Euranimi brought legal action to the General Court of the European Union in Luxembourg, requesting annulment of the three-year extension from June 2021 of the safeguard measure, alleging a manifest error of assessment on the part of the EC in the determination of serious injury and likelihood of serious injury from steel imports.However, European steel producers' association EUROFER counters that the steel import safeguards continue to avoid serious disruption from sudden import surges without micro-managing supply or prices. EUROFER said “Having peaked in March, European steel prices are now quickly and significantly decreasing, below US price level, as steel users are limiting orders speculating on further price decreases,”Safeguard system, involving tariff-rate quotas, was introduced mid-2018 to curb trade deviation following US president Trump's introduction of 25% tariffs on steel product imports from many countries under Section 232 legislation in March that year. From January 1 2022, Section 232 charges on EU steel have been replaced by a tariff-rate quota accord on trade between the parties concerned. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, the EC reallocated Russia's and Belarus' product quota among other exporting countries.The current review of the EU's system safeguards system, the fourth review of the system, was brought forward to December 2021, with contributions from interested parties required by 10 January. The review covers 26 product categories, including hot-rolled sheets and strips, cold rolled sheets, metallic coated sheets, tin mill products, stainless hot and cold rolled sheets and strips, merchant bars, light and hollow sections, rebars, wire rod, railway material, and seamless and welded tubes.
