EU Cuts Steel Import Quotas to Protect Industry
The European Union Commission has unveiled new steel import quotas to reduce duty-free imports, protect the bloc’s steel industry and boost production capacity.
The new rules, which take effect on Wednesday, reduce annual tariff-free steel import quotas by 47 per cent to 18.3 million metric tonnes.
They commission also imposed a 50 per cent duty on imports exceeding the quotas across 26 categories of steel products.
It said the measures were designed to raise steel production capacity utilisation in the European Union to 80 per cent.
The commission said the rules would help shield the industry from global overcapacity and unfair dumping practices.
According to the commission, persistent global overcapacity continues to distort international steel markets. It said the new measures would restore fair competition in the European steel market.
Half of the import quotas have been reserved for countries with free trade agreements with the European Union.
The remaining quotas will be available to all trading partners, including free trade agreement partners.
The commission said most free trade partners would receive country-specific quotas based on their historical export volumes.
It added that many trading partners had provisionally accepted the proposed quota allocations.
The European Steel Association (Eurofer), however, said the measures might increase capacity utilisation to between 73 per cent and 75 per cent.
It said current steel production capacity utilisation across the bloc stood at about 67 per cent due to weak demand.
Eurofer Director-General Axel Eggert said European steelmakers could recover about 15 million metric tonnes of production under the new system.
He, however, urged the commission to extend similar measures to downstream steel industries for greater impact. #EU Cuts Steel Import Quotas to Protect Industry#
