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Eisen + Stahl Service Center GmbH feiert die Fertigstellung einer neuen Produktionshalle

Service aus einem Guss: Durch den Bau einer neuen Produktionshalle hat die Eisen + Stahl Service Center GmbH ihr Produkt- und Dienstleistungsspektrum entscheidend ausgebaut. Das Herzstück des darin befindlichen Maschinenparks ist eine Längsteilanlage, wodurch das Mannheimer Unternehmen über noch mehr Bearbeitungs-Möglichkeiten und Flexibilität verfügt.

Turkey exhausts rebar/wire rod EU import quotas – already

Some key import quotas within the EU’s new permanent safeguard system appear to be exausted until the end of June, Kallanish learns from the latest data from European customs analysed by Siderweb. The permanent safeguards were introduced officially at the beginning of February.

The safeguard system sets tariff-free import quotas for the period February-June 2019, calculated for the biggest suppliers using a country-based mechanism.

Following a period of uncertainty, customs are set to start the clearance of volumes of products currently at European ports during next week. According to European customs data, for some key products such as Turkish rebar and wire rod, most or all of the quotas allocated for the February-June period are already sitting at the docks awaiting clearance. This has also been highlighted by the Turkish Steel Federation (see separate article).

According to Siderweb calculations, Turkish wire rod volumes at the docks currently represent 103% of the allocated tariff-free quotas for the February-June period. The equivalent of 94% of Turkish rebar quotas for the same period also appear to be awaiting clearance.

The tensions surrounding Turkish rebar and wire rod were anticipated by the fact that preliminary quotas in place until the end of January 2019 were exhausted well before 2018 ended. This confirmed that demand for imports of these products remains above the quotas allocated by the European Commission system.

One trader confirms the issue and notes that some customs bodies in Europe are already requesting a deposit for the 25% tariff for wire rod imports prior to clearing the volumes. This is as per the requirements of the safeguard measures.

Most of the other country-based quotas allocated for different products are not experiencing the same pressure. Chinese automotive grade HDG importers, for example, have used only 35% of the quotas up to now.

EU accelerates anti-dumping legislation for welded tube

No imports of welded tube nor hollow sections arrived at European ports in January. This may be the consequence of the new European Union (EU) anti-dumping investigation into imports of hollow sections, welded tubes and pipes from Russia, Turkey and former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia. Material may still be imported in February and in the months to come however, sources interviewed by Kallanish believe.

One source says that the EU is proceeding speedily with the investigation. Preliminary duties may be imposed by the end of April and definitive measures should start in September. “If duties are applied in April and they are retroactive by say 3 months, the material that is imported in February may be subjected to anti-dumping duties,”, the source comments. He adds that buyers – particularly non-English speakers – may not have been informed of this investigation or may have been misinformed therefore they are not considering the risks of importing.  

The European Commission confirmed the initiation of a new anti-dumping investigation into imports of hollow sections, welded tubes and pipes from Russia, Turkey and former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia in September 2018. This followed a complaint lodged by the EU’s welded steel tube industry defence committee in August.

The products subject to this investigation are “… welded tubes, pipes and hollow profiles of square or rectangular cross-section, of iron other than cast iron or steel other than stainless, but excluding line pipe of a kind used for oil or gas pipelines and casing and tubing of a kind used in drilling for oil or gas,”.

Definitive EU Safeguard Quotas for Mettalic Coated Sheets have been Shifted

Definitive EU Safeguard Quotas for Metallic Coated Sheets have been Shifted in favor of category B, non passivated coated sheets for automotive use

In the definitive EU steel safeguards, the total quota for 4A +4B Metallic Coated Sheets is unchanged. 4A+4B quotas per country are also unchanged.

But in the definitive safeguard quotas, there is a shift of volumes in favor of category 4B (non passivated) at the expense of category 4A (passivated).

EC increases automotive HDG safeguard quota

The European Commission has amended the hot-dip galvanized tariff-free quota from its first proposal on permanent safeguard measures presented to the World Trade Organisation.

The first proposal, released at the beginning of January 2019, confirmed permanent safeguard measures and made stricter the existing quotas system. The measures were then implemented at the end of January. In the final document 50% of approved HDG quotas were moved from section 4a –related to structural HDG regulated by anti-dumping – to section 4b – specifically grouping HDG for automotive use, not included in the anti-dumping system.

According to Kallanish calculations, the biggest change was registered for South Korean HDG. In the final version of the measures the country was awarded some 121,000 tonnes more of tariff-free quota for the 4b group during the period February-June 2019. India also saw its 4b quota increase by 58,000t during the same period, while China’s automotive grade HDG quota only moved up 7,000t compared to the first draft.

On an annual level the 4b group has been allocated overall some 600,000t more quotas than in the first proposal at the WTO, Kallanish notes.

The new permanent safeguard measures allocate quotas to 28 different steel product groups; only HDG in group 4a and 4b registered a change between the first proposal and the final version.

A European trading source speculates the change could have happened following the fierce complaint lodged by European automotive carmakers association ACEA after the first draft was published.