EU could still launch Turkish HRC probe: sources

The possible opening of an anti-dumping investigation against imports into the EU of Turkish hot rolled coil remains on the table of European authorities, sources at this week’s Eurometal meeting in Milan said.

Fabrizio di Gianni from Van Bael & Bellis explained that the investigation could be launched soon, due to the fact data show Turkish HRC imports increased by over five times since 2015. These are expected to surpass 3.5 million tonnes this year, up from the 668,000t in 2015.

Tayfun Iseri from Turkish supplier Colakoglu spoke of the current concerns regarding Turkish exports globally. He said concerns are growing only because Turkish suppliers expanded their export activity into Europe since 2018, after a decade of being net importers from the continent.

Turkish suppliers were helped by the imposition of an AD duty by the EU on a number of other sources including China, Brazil, Russia and Iran during the last year. Now the latest review of safeguard measures has capped imports to 30% of the available quarterly quota, limiting Turkish imports into the EU going forward, Kallanish notes.

Despite the large number of trade barriers imposed against Turkey by many countries during the last years, Turkey has avoided any sort of retaliation with similar trade barriers so far. Iseri explained that while the local government could well push for it, Turkish steelmakers and steel users are still opposing any trade barriers.