Among the market movers in the Americas presented this week by Colleen Ferguson: • Northeast electricity demand…
The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has released its official selling price for September, which is considered…
The European Commission will propose an updated EU steel import safeguard regime later this month, with a view to implementing any changes in July, the European Commission said on May 11.
“The review is still ongoing and should be completed and adopted in time for any changes to be applied by July 1, 2022,” an EC spokesman said in an email. “The Commission expects late May or early June at the latest. Publish a WTO Notice containing the main elements of the proposal.”
The system was introduced in mid-2018 to curb trade misalignment after U.S. President Donald Trump enacted a 25 percent tariff on steel imports from many countries under Section 232 legislation in March of that year.From January 1, the Article 232 charge on EU steel has been replaced by a trade tariff quota agreement between the parties involved.A similar US-UK agreement will come into effect on June 1.
The EU Steel Consumers Association lobbied during this review to remove or suspend safeguards, or increase tariff quotas.They argue that these safeguards have led to high prices and product scarcity in the EU market, and that the ban on Russian steel imports and new trade opportunities for EU steel in the US now make them unnecessary.
In September 2021, Brussels-based steel consumer group European Association of Non-Integrated Metals Importers and Distributors, Euranimi, filed a complaint with the EU General Court in Luxembourg to lift the safeguard measures extended for three years from June 2021.The measure alleges that the EC had a “clear assessment error” in determining the serious injury and the likelihood of serious injury caused by steel imports.
Eurofer, the European steel producers’ association, countered that steel import safeguards continue to “avoid havoc due to sudden import surges without micro-managing supply or prices…European steel prices hit 20 percent in March.” peak, is now falling rapidly and significantly (below U.S. price levels) as steel users are limiting orders for speculative price falls further,” the association said.
According to an assessment by S&P Global Commodity Insights, since the start of the second quarter, the ex-works price of HRC in Northern Europe has fallen by 17.2% to €1,150/t on 11 May.
The current review of the EU system’s safeguards – the fourth review of the system – was brought forward to December last year, with stakeholder requests to contribute by 10 January.Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, the EC reallocated Russian and Belarusian product quotas among other exporters.
Imports of finished steel from Russia and Ukraine total around 6 million tonnes in 2021, accounting for about 20% of total EU imports and 4% of EU steel consumption of 150 million tonnes, Eurofer noted.
The review covers 26 product categories including hot rolled sheet and strip, cold rolled sheet, metal coated sheet, tin mill products, stainless steel cold rolled sheet and strip, commercial bars, lightweight and hollow sections, rebar, wire rod, railway materials , as well as seamless and welded pipes.
Tim di Maulo, chief executive of EU and Brazilian stainless producer Aperam, said on May 6 that the company was counting on the EC’s support to help curb “the sharp increase in (EU) imports in the first quarter…purely from China. ”
“We expect more countries to be protected in the future, with China being the leading candidate,” an Aperam spokesman said in a statement, which the company called for the upcoming revisions.He noted that South Africa had recently been included in safeguards.
“Despite the countervailing measures, China has found a way to sell more in the past,” Dimolo said on a conference call with investors discussing the steelmaker’s first-quarter results.”Imports always put pressure on the market.
“The committee has been and will continue to support,” he said.”We trust the committee will address this issue.”
Despite higher imports, Aperam continued its record performance by reporting higher product sales and revenue in the first quarter as well as adding recycling results to its balance sheet.The company’s stainless and electrical steel capacity in Brazil and Europe is 2.5 million t/y and a further positive record is expected in the second quarter.
Di Maulo added that the current situation in China has resulted in steelmakers there producing extremely low or negative profit margins compared to the positive profit margins of the past two years.However, this is “a cycle that may normalize in the future,” he said.
However, Euranimi noted in a Jan. 26 letter to the European Commission that in the EU “there is a huge shortage of stainless steel, especially SSCR (cold-rolled flat stainless steel), due to unprecedented levels of protectionism and strong demand, and prices are out of control.”
“The economic and geopolitical situation has fundamentally changed compared to 2018, when the temporary safeguard measures were implemented,” Euranimi director Christophe Lagrange said in an email on May 11, citing By the post-pandemic economic recovery, material shortages in Europe including stainless steel, record price hikes, record profits for European stainless producers in 2021, inflation in the EU, extremely high transport costs due to overseas transport congestion And more expensive imports, the Ukraine war, EU sanctions on Russia, Joe’s succession to Donald Trump Biden as US president and the removal of some Section 232 measures.
“In such a completely new context, why create a safeguard measure to protect EU steel mills in a completely different context, when the danger that the measure was designed to confront no longer exists?” Lagrange asked.
It’s free and easy to do.Please use the button below and we’ll bring you back here when you’re done.