EU redistributes Russia/Belarus quotas : India, Turkey benefit most

The European Commission published on Wednesday the new distribution of safeguard quotas effective from April, following its decision to ban imports into the EU of steel from Russia and Belarus. Turkey and India are the main beneficiaries.

Quotas have been redistributed proportionally to other exporting countries based on the most recent available data of imports into Europe in 2021. “This approach ensures a fair treatment of the different origins, allowing that EU steel users make effective use of the volumes that originally were subject to the quotas attributed to Belarus and Russia, thereby avoiding any risk of potential shortage of supply in the Union market resulting from the import bans on these two countries,” the Commission says in a note seen by Kallanish.

Turkey and India have seen their quarterly hot rolled coil quotas, for example, jump by some 100,000 tonnes each.

Ukraine’s quotas have also increased as part of the redistribution. However, market sources are concerned that production and shipment issues at Ukrainian mills will affect supply from the country for a long time. Last year, Ukraine supplied into Europe some 2.5 million tonnes of finished steel products, according to Eurofer data.

The review of EU safeguard measures initiated in December 2021 is still ongoing. Further changes to the system could well be implemented in due course.

Emanuele Norsa Italy