The EU's steel import quotas are being cut by nearly half starting today
The EU has significantly reduced the volume of steel imports, aiming to raise Europe's capacity utilization rate to 80%.
To protect Europe's steel industry, the European Commission has lowered the annual duty-free import quota. On Tuesday, June 30, the Commission announced that the duty-free steel import quota would be reduced to 18.3 million tons—a 47% decrease. In addition, a 50% tariff will be imposed on 26 categories of steel products imported beyond the quota, doubling the previous rate.
These new rules take effect on July 1, with the EU hoping they will help raise steel capacity utilization to 80%. However, Eurofer, the European Steel Association, notes that due to weak demand, the new measures may only increase capacity utilization from the current level of around 67% to between 73% and 75%.
Axel Eggert, General Director of the European Steel Association, said EU steel production could increase by approximately 15 million tons—about half of the output lost in recent years. Eggert believes this measure should also be extended to downstream industries, such as companies producing laminated steel plates or automotive stamping sheets.
According to Reuters, half of the future import quota will be allocated exclusively to countries with which the EU has signed free trade agreements—13 such countries, including the UK, Switzerland, India, and South Korea. The other half will be open to all countries. For the latter group, many nations will receive quota allocations based on their historical export volumes to EU countries. The Commission stated that a significant number of partners have already preliminarily agreed to these allocation terms.
Source: DW
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1869561724462106/
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