On the first day of the new EU quota period from July 1 to September 30, some of the import quotas for certain steel products such as HRC, CRC, metallic coated sheets, organic coated sheets and tin mill products, allocated for certain countries like Taiwan, Turkey, Vietnam and China have already been exceeded with products waiting for customs clearance, while over 60 percent of quotas for some steel products have been used up.
Some import quotas for certain steel products have been used rapidly, while the usage of some quotas has declined compared to the beginning of the previous quota period from April 1 to June 30.
The exceeded quotas can be seen in the table below.
| Product | Country | Amount (mt) | Awaiting (mt) | Used (%) |
| HRC (1A) | Taiwan (under other countries) | 112,716 | 128,722 | 114.2 |
| CRC | Turkey (under other countries) | 43,989 | 47,928 | 108.95 |
| Metallic coated sheets (4A) | Vietnam (under other countries) | 119,428 | 152,277 | 127.51 |
|
Metallic coated sheets (4B) |
China | 129,758 | 152,655 | 117.65 |
| Vietnam (under other countries) | 21,207 | 30,702 | 144.77 | |
| Organic coated sheets | Vietnam (under other countries) | 10,843 | 59,738 | 550.94 |
| Tin mill products | Turkey (under other countries) | 7,510 | 15,409 | 205.18 |
| Stainless hot rolled quarto plates | China | 4,974 | 5,214 | 104.83 |
| Stainless bars and light sections | China | 1,302 | 1,747 | 134.18 |
| Wire rod | Algeria (under other countries) | 15,255 | 31,410 | 205.9 |
| Angles and sections | Turkey (under other countries) | 10,243 | 10,503 | 102.54 |
In addition, SteelOrbis sees both upward and downward trends in quota usage in the current period compared to the previous quarter. South Korea has used up 70.55 percent of its 163,077 mt HRC (1A) quota, although the country had used up only 44.73 percent of the quota in question at the beginning of the previous quota period. India has used up 64.44 percent and 61.64 percent of its 54,279 mt metallic coated sheet (4A) and 79,534 mt organic coated sheet quotas, respectively, while the country’s usage of the given quotas was at 122.72 percent and 83.53 percent, respectively, at the beginning of the previous quota period. Meanwhile, India has used up 93.91 percent of its 32,114 mt of stainless bars and light sections quota. SteelOrbis assumes that changes in quota usages reflect certain market developments such as trade diversion resulting from the recently introduced US tariffs, lower flat steel prices in the EU domestic market and consequent weak demand for import products.
Furthermore, Algeria has used up 75.44 percent of its 27,898 mt rebar quota, while 99.96 percent of the 15,255 mt wire rod quota allocated for Malaysia under other countries has been used up. 5,626 mt of the hollow section quota allocated for China has been used more rapidly at a rate of 94.21 percent, compared to 31.16 percent at the beginning of the previous period.
