Trade Cases
CRU: UK plans to increase HR steel quota
Written by CRU
August 15, 2024
The Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) in the UK has proposed raising the tariff rate quota (TRQ) for imports of hot rolled sheet steel because of blast furnace closures at the Port Talbot works in south Wales.
Tata Steel shut down one BF in July with the second to follow in September ahead of a switch to the greener electric arc furnace (EAF) steel making process at Port Talbot from 2027.
“These changes have resulted in higher imports and parts of the current quota being exhausted, creating uncertainty and driving up costs for steel users,” said the TRA’s chief executive Oliver Griffiths.
The authority suggests creating two sub-groups from its Category 1 for steel: Category 1A with an unchanged quota accessible to those importing for commercial applications, and Category 1B for downstream processing only and set 89% higher than that of 1A.
The TRA also proposes Category 1B’s quota is allocated globally to allow companies to establish reliable supply chains, but with a cap between 37% and 42% to ensure no country’s exports dominate the new quota.
The import allowance under Category 1A is just over 1 million tons per year of hot rolled sheet and for Category 1B around 1.9 million tons per year. If the limits are breached, imports will attract a 25% tariff.
Interested parties have until Aug. 19 to comment on the proposals, which follow a review by the TRA requested by Tata Steel and Kromat Trading in February.
This article was first published by CRU. To learn more about CRU’s services, visit www.crugroup.com.
Latest in Trade Cases
CRU: Trump tariffs could stimulate steel demand
Now that the dust has settled from the US election, as have the immediate reactions in the equity, bond, and commodity markets, this is a prime opportunity to look at how a second Trump presidency might affect the US steel market.
Rebar import duties to continue for 5 more years
Import duties on rebar from a handful of countries will continue to be collected for at least another five years.
Leibowitz: Trump 2.0 signals Cold War 2.0 trade and China policies
China is one of the elephants in the room as the transition to Trump 2.0 continues. While the people and policies are still being formulated, it’s possible to detect a strategy for the new Trump administration. I think there are two imperative issues that the new administration needs to balance. The Trump strategy will, I believe, follow the following points. First, trade is one of the issues that got President Trump elected in 2016 and 2024—it nearly got him elected in 2020, save for the pandemic. If President Trump had won in 2020, I might be writing chronicles about the end of his eight years in the White House now instead of projecting what the next Trump administration would accomplish or break. Oh, well—that’s life. Trade will necessarily be a key feature of relations with China for the next four years.
Commerce says Nippon dumped steel in US in 2022-23
Commerce determined a significant dumping margin for hot-rolled steel imports from Japan's Nippon Steel.
Commerce finalizes sunset review of HR import duties
The Commerce Department determined that, if anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders were allowed to expire, or be ‘sunset,’ the illegal dumping and subsidization of HR imports would be likely to continue at sizeable rates.