Several of the EU’s steel safeguard quotas were exhausted on Oct. 6, following the opening of the fourth-quarter allocation period, amid continuing strong demand for imported steel despite the stricter trade measures introduced earlier this year.
Imports falling under category 1A, including hot-rolled coils (HRC), saw strong utilization following the start of the fourth quarter of 2026, with quotas for ‘Other Countries’ exhausted. Australia is depleted, and Indonesia’s quotas are nearly exhausted as well, with 1% remaining at 336.30 metric tons, while Turkey’s, also exhausted, has an indicative volume of 3,213.40 mt awaiting allocation, on top of the initial 160,573 mt quota.
Platts assessed imported HRC in Northern Europe at €595/metric ton CIF Antwerp and in Southern Europe at €590/mt CIF South Europe.
Quotas typically exhausted quickly under the previous trade measures. However, the revised measures introduced July 1, 2026, by the European Commission had far harsher stipulations, such as tighter quotas, a shared pool for Free Trade Agreements (FTA) countries, an additional first-come, first-served allocation, and 50% out-of-quota safeguard duties on any out-of-quota material.
For cold-rolled coils (CRC), the quota for ‘Other countries’ was fully allocated at 24,934 mt. Other origins had stronger availability, with the next most popular origin — South Korea — still holding 89.38% of its balance unallocated.
Attitudes towards CRC imports have remained largely cautious following the EC’s decision on anti-dumping duties on CRC on Aug. 6. Anti-dumping trade measures were applied to Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan and Turkey at varying rates, prompting some market participants to purchase domestically where possible.
As for hot-dipped galvanized steel (HDG) 4A, quotas for “Other countries” at 33,339 mt, Japan’s at 2,874 mt, Taiwan’s at 33,783 mt and Turkey’s at 68,925 mt were exhausted, while South Africa was close to reaching its limit at 3,150 mt with 1% remaining. HDG 4B quotas for China at 45,749 mt and Turkey at 26,020 mt were also fully used.
Plate quotas for “Other countries” at 18,830 mt, Turkey at 7,008 mt and India at 52,710 mt were depleted, as was Turkey’s rebar quota at 59,919 mt. For medium sections, quotas for “Other countries” at 7,174 mt, FTA partners at 5,150 mt, Turkey at 59,850 mt, and North Macedonia at 10,959 mt have also reached their limits.
UK steel safeguard refresh
The UK’s steel import quotas have also seen similar utilization levels following the quarterly refresh, although the safeguard measures, revised earlier this year, were significantly smaller than those in the EU. For category 1A, including HRC, India’s country-specific quota’s remaining balance sat at just 505 mt Oct. 6, out of a fourth-quarter balance of 8,364 mt, while the residual quota of 12,440 mt was completely exhausted over the same period. The EU’s country-specific quota remained largely untapped, with just 1,655 mt of material cleared.
For category 4 imports — including hot-dipped galvanized material — strong availability remains across all country-specific quotas, with India showing the largest allocated utilization rate at 58.7%.
Author: Panos Achilleos, Charles Thompson
