The EU could start its consultation on the idea of imposing a melt-and-pour clause in the coming months, Xiaoyi Tang, a lawyer at Dentons Europe, told the EUROMETAL Steel Net Forum in Iberia today.
Sources at the event expected melt and pour would likely not come into play during the current safeguard, but from July next year, when the mechanism lapses.
It is likely to only target China, given the country’s overcapacity and large exports of hot-rolled coil (HRC) that end up in the EU as cold-rolled and hot-dip galvanised, sources said. While it will be hard to enforce, some said it would be game changing for the amount of cold-rolled and galvanised entering the bloc, putting a big strain on re-rollers and traders’ alike. Smaller traders are already starting to exit the market given the increase in bureaucracy, some participants told Argus on the sidelines of the conference.
Alexander Julius, president of EUROMETAL, told the event he was seeking measures from the European commission on downstream semi-finished and finished goods, as customers of its members are also suffering from rising third-country imports. Julius has attended high-profile meetings with the commission and said they appear promising. Protecting the whole value chain, and not just mills, was important, given Europe’s struggle to compete at present, he said.
Some attendees at the conference bemoaned the tighter measures on certain products as part of the safeguard review, particularly hot-dip galvanised, pre-painted and some long products, such as beams. The imposition of a cap on beams, reducing volumes from key supplier Turkey, would be a large issue, sources said.
Likewise, some were petitioning for a shipping window in relation to the imposition of caps on other countries’ rebar. One trader said there is at least 80,000t waiting to clear from Egypt and Algeria, and the freshly imposed 20pc “other countries” cap from 1 April will mean they can sell around 27,000t each. Many questioned the removal of Indonesia from the safeguard on wire rod, and said it has booked around 100,000t since as a result.
There was some talk at the conference that the legal safeguard text, expected to be published in the Official Journal next week, may contain a provision on developing country status being reviewed more regularly, when imports from exempt suppliers increase. This would mean Indonesia could come back into scope on wire rod, and into scope on hot-rolled coil.
By Colin Richardson
Source: argusmedia.com
