Allocation data as of 6 July provide the first indication of how the EU’s new quota architecture functions in practice for hot-rolled sheets and strips (category 1A), Kallanish analyses.
Access is distributed across four quotas: country-specific quotas (CSQ), an additional FTA Quota-CSQ available after eligible FTA partners exhaust their allocations, a residual “other countries” quota for suppliers without country-specific allocations, and an FTA Quota-Other countries reserved for FTA partners without country-specific quotas.
The largest country-specific allocation was granted to Türkiye at 160,574 tonnes. However, by 6 July, HRC volumes awaiting allocation had already reached 374,409t, exceeding the quarterly quota by 213,836t, or 133%. This makes Türkiye the only supplier to have fully exhausted its country-specific allocation within the first week of the new regime.
Most other major suppliers still had most of their quotas available, with only India using 68% of its allocation.
The new FTA Quota-CSQ serves as a second layer of access for FTA partners once their national country-specific quotas have been exhausted. Although Türkiye had already exhausted its own allocation, this shared FTA reserve of 120,921t remained unused as of 6 July.
Outside the main country-specific quotas, utilisation remained mixed. Indonesia had used just over half of its allocation, while Brazil, the United Kingdom, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland and Kazakhstan had made little or no use of their quotas during the first week.
Among the residual quotas, the “other countries” pool was also heavily oversubscribed. Applications totalled 11,175t against a quota of 5,564t, exceeding the available volume by 5,611t, or 101%.
By contrast, the FTA Quota – Other countries, reserved for FTA partners without country-specific allocations, remained around half available, with 2,100t still unallocated.
EU TRQ allocation (tonnes) for HR sheet, strip (category 1.A) for Q3
| Origin | TRQ volume |
Balance | Awaiting allocation |
Avaliable TRQ tonnes |
Available TRQ % |
| Türkiye | 160,574 | 160,574 | 374,409 | -213,836 | -133 |
| Japan | 137,885 | 137,885 | 1 | 137,884 | 100 |
| India | 149,319 | 149,319 | 101,925 | 47,394 | 32 |
| Taiwan | 69,731 | 69,731 | 1,957 | 67,773 | 97 |
| Ukraine | 120,882 | 120,882 | 13,455 | 107,428 | 89 |
| South Korea | 115,458 | 115,458 | 15,919 | 99,539 | 86 |
| Vietnam | 103,743 | 103,743 | 20,220 | 83,523 | 81 |
| Egypt | 101,232 | 101,232 | 1,828 | 99,404 | 98 |
| Serbia | 64,524 | 64,524 | 1,089 | 63,435 | 98 |
| FTA Quota – CSQ (Egypt, EU, India, Korea, Türkiye, Ukraine) |
120,921 | 120,921 | – | 120,921 | 100 |
| Brazil | 42,513 | 42,513 | 47 | 42,466 | 100 |
| United Kingdom | 38,481 | 38,481 | 226 | 38,255 | 99 |
| Indonesia | 31,834 | 31,834 | 16,319 | 15,516 | 49 |
| Australia | 11,830 | 11,830 | – | 11,830 | 100 |
| Saudi Arabia | 9,545 | 9,545 | – | 9,545 | 100 |
| Switzerland | 5,473 | 5,473 | 6 | 5,466 | 100 |
| Kazakhstan | 2,378 | 2,378 | – | 2,378 | 100 |
| North Macedonia | 3,532 | 3,532 | 178 | 3,354 | 95 |
| Other countries | 5,564 | 5,564 | 11,175 | -5,611 | -101 |
| FTA Quota – Other countries | 4,272 | 4,272 | 2,172 | 2,100 | 49 |
Source: EU TARIC, as of 6 July. Complied by Kallanish
