UK to apply own steel import quotas after Brexit

The UK’s Department for International Trade has announced transitional trade measures due to Brexit. Accordingly, the country will apply its own quota tariffs against imports of 19 steel products, effective from January 1, 2021. The EU quotas are based on average imports for 2015-17 and the UK is expected to do the same, as SteelOrbis understands. The UK will also apply steel import quotas against the EU as they will not be in the same trade union after Brexit.

In the first quarter of 2019, Turkey exported 27,556 mt of HRC to the UK, while it exported 9,271 mt of the same product in the second quarter of 2019. In the remainder of 2019, Turkey did not export any HRC to the country. In the first half of 2020, Turkey exported 3,275 mt of HRC to the UK. According to the UK’s quota tariffs, Turkey has a quota of 23,602 mt of HRC for the first quarter of 2021 and 23,864 mt of HRC for the second quarter of the given year.

As for the rebar segment, Turkey exported 59,757 mt to the UK in the first quarter of 2019 and 20,266 mt of rebar in the second quarter of 2019. In June this year, Turkey exported 9,973 mt of rebar to the UK. In the remainder of 2019 and 2020, Turkey did not export any rebar to the country. As for the new quota tariff of the UK, Turkey has a quota of 16,297 mt of rebar for the first half of 2021 and 16,478 for the second half of 2021.

Turkey exported 26,126 mt of HDG to the UK in the first quarter of 2019, while it exported 31,439 mt to the UK in the second quarter of 2019. In the third quarter of 2019, Turkey exported 11,737 mt of HDG to the UK, while it exported 17,177 mt of the same product in the fourth quarter of 2019. In the first quarter of the current year, Turkey exported 3,028 mt of HDG to the UK, while it exported 12,805 mt of HDG in the second quarter of the current year.

Market sources expect that Turkey may have some issues when exporting HDG to the UK since the export volumes have occasionally been rather good for Turkish mills and now competition will be quite tough once Asian suppliers are in the market to sell to Europe. In the HRC segment, there are not many worries since the volumes were minor previously. Pipe makers in Turkey are not much concerned either, saying that the remaining volumes are sufficient, though of course having more freedom to sell would have been preferred.

With the new tariffs announced by the UK, the European authorities are expected to make some adjustments to the existing safeguard measures, valid in the EU, once the UK will be no longer a member, SteelOrbis understands.