The new measures, which were confirmed on Thursday through their publication in the Official Journal of the European Union, also included the termination of the investigation into imports from India, after concluding that no dumping had been established for Indian hot-rolled flat steel.
Duty rates and margins
- For Egypt, the definitive dumping margin was set at 11.7 % for Ezz Steel and for all other Egyptian imports, a little lower compared with the provisional duty of 12.8%.
- For Japan, definitive duties were imposed at: 30.0% for Nippon Steel Corporation and all other companies (down from 31.8% provisional duties); 29.8% for JFE Steel Corporation and Daido Steel Co (down from 31.1% provisional duties); and Tokyo Steel received a comparatively low duty of 6.9%, unchanged from the provisional duty.
- For Vietnam, the definitive rate were set at 12.1% for Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation and all other companies, in line with the provisional rate.
Procedure, rationale
The investigation into HRC imports from Egypt, India, Vietnam and Japan was initially launched in August 2024 based on a complaint by the European steel association EUROFER. After the imposition of provisional measures in April 2025 for all countries except India, interested parties submitted comments, while the Commission carried out further verification and adjustments.
Market impact
All countries under investigation, except Vietnam have been using their quarterly quotas at a slow pace.
India, Egypt and Vietnam used less than one-third of their quotas for the July-September quarter and by September 26, Egypt still had 77,669 tonnes of its initial 112,716 tonnes allocation available, Japan still had 86,949 tonnes of its initial 112,716-tonne allocation available and India had 103,656 remaining from its HRC allocation of 227,781 tonnes.
Vietnam, however had fully used up its 112,716 tonnes quarterly quota by September 26.
The four countries combined supplied 3.9 million tonnes of HRC to the EU in 2024, accounting for 41.2% of total HRC imports to the trading bloc, according to Global Trade Tracker statistics.
Sources told Fastmarkets that, apar from the investigation into imports from those four countries, looming uncertainty regarding new steel safeguards and the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)were cooling buying appetites for HRC imports.
“CBAM and safeguards are both looming large, so importing [HRC] in general is a risky business,” a buyer in Italy said.
