New EU safeguard quotas for imports have become available since the beginning of April. Turkey, as expected, has already exhausted a large part of available second-quarter quotas for long products, despite having received higher quotas than in previous quarters after the Russia-Belarus quota reallocation.
In March, the European Commission reallocated the quotas of Russia and Belarus to other countries after banning imports from Russia and Belarus due to their involvement in the Ukraine war (see Kallanish passim). As a consequence, large import suppliers such as Turkey and India have benefitted from higher allocations.
During the first week of April, nevertheless, Turkey exhausted all available quotas for key imports of long products such as rebar and wire rod. Availability of quotas for Turkey has also become critical for other products, such as hollow sections, merchant bar and light sections.
In the rebar and wire rod markets, the only alternatives for importers to Turkey were Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, countries that are now either banned from trading with Europe or suffering from supply issues linked to the war.
Emanuele Norsa Italy
