EU approves safeguard system revision proposal

The proposal published by the European Commission in mid-August to revise the existing EU safeguard measures for steel was approved last week by the member states, Kallanish learns from sources. As a consequence, the changes to the system will become effective as from the beginning of October.

The revision includes the decision to reduce the annual increase of quotas from the planned 5% to 3%. As of the beginning of October the quotas available for the period July 2019-June 2020 will be revised downward to meet the new indications.

Another major change will be implemented for HRC imports. While the quota available will continue to remain global, no importing country will be allowed to use more than 30% of the available volumes in any given quarter.

A similar change will also be implemented in regard with rebar and wire rod imports. The system of country-specific quotas will remain in place but during the last quarter of each annual period no specific country will be allowed to use more than 30% of the residual quota available.

Finally, the quotas for large welded tube will be changes into a global one applied quarterly, cancelling the existing country-specific division due to changes in the product’s market flow.