The UK’s Trade Remedy Authority is recommending that the tariff-rate quota on category 12A products – alloy merchant bars and light sections – be varied following a review, Kallanish reports.
This comes following a review requested by the Confederation of British Metalforming (CBM), alleging a change in circumstances with “no current viable domestic production” of the products.
Data in the Statement of Intended Final Determination show trade flows of the product category have changed since 2017/18. Total import volume has “massively” increased, led by a significant rise in the quantity of goods imported from Spain and Poland, while imports from nearly all other sources have decreased significantly.
The period of investigation for the review was 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025. During this time, there was a 62% increase in volume to 94,009 tonnes versus June 2017-2018.
Much of the review focuses on the status of Speciality Steel UK (SSUK), amid claims production of goods in the scope ceased production in 2025. SSUK, registered as an interested party, said it has the capabilities to produce these goods but did not provide evidence supporting this, nor addressed the allegations of mothballing at the Rotherham site.
The review notes the winding up and appointment of the Official Receiver for SSUK in August 2025.
Several downstream importers registered to the case, including Solid Swivel, Cooper and Turner, and Tinsley Bridge, stated they attempted to procure category 12A products during the POI from SSUK and were unsuccessful.
While the TRA does consider this to be a change in circumstance, it also says “there is sufficient evidence that UK producers have not ceased production of category 12A goods, and we therefore do not have the legal power to revoke the TRQ for category 12A,” following submissions by 7 Steel and British Steel.
“We have therefore concluded that the safeguard measure is appropriate to allow downstream users of category 12A products to purchase imports without a significant risk of incurring the out-of-quota safeguarding duty, and therefore the amount of tariff rate quota is appropriate for domestic market conditions,” it adds.
The TRA intends to recommend a varying of the allocation of the quota such that it applies only to category 12A goods produced in the UK during the POI. This would see the measure varied to no longer allocate imports of the following commodity codes to the TRQ for category 12A: 7228 3041 00; 7228 3061 00; 7228 3069 00; 7228 3020 00; 7228 3070 00; 7228 6020 00.
The safeguard measure should be varied to only allocate imports of the following commodity codes to the TRQ for category 12A: 7228 3089 00; 7228 7010 00.
