The European Commission revised EU Steel Import Quotas system
The European Commission has published the result of its second investigation reviewing the safeguard measures put in place by the European Union on imports of steel products. Accordingly there will be country-specific quotas available quarterly and not annual allocations. Access to the residual quota for countries that have previously exhausted their country-specific quota will be only permitted to the extent necessary to respond to demand. Read More
Short Range Outlook : June 2020
Global longs export markets shrink further amid protectionism, Russians dominate As expected, things are getting more difficult for exporters in the global steel market. The EU opened fire with an antidumping investigation on HRC imports from Turkey, with Turkey firing back with duties on steel products from the EU. Canada started a similar investigation against imports of heavy plates from several countries, while Egypt has been working on a 10 percent... Read More
Short Range Outlook : May 2020
Impact of Covid-19 starts to hit home across the global long steel market The supply and demand situation in the global long steel products market has deteriorated as global economies are doing much worse today thanks to protectionist measures and the Covid-19 pandemic. There is oversupply of almost everything, except those items that suddenly end up being in short supply due to impacts on the supply chain. This does not include ‘shortages’ that... Read More
Turkey files complaint at WTO against EU safeguard measures
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has announced that Turkey has requested trade dispute consultations with the European Union regarding the EU’s safeguard measures on imported steel products. Accordingly, Turkey claims that the EU safeguard measures, in the form of tariff-rate quotas and additional duties, and the investigation that led to their imposition, are inconsistent with a number of provisions of the Agreement on Safeguards and the General... Read More
IREPAS in Belgrade: Longs market outlook unclear amid coronavirus threat
The 82nd meeting of IREPAS (the International Rebar Exporters and Producers Association) was held in Belgrade, Serbia on March 1-3, 2020 in conjunction with the SteelOrbis Spring ’20 Conference. Unfortunately, the coronavirus outbreak had a negative impact on our 82nd meeting in Belgrade. After the news about the coronavirus cases observed in Italy by late February, many participants due to attend the 82nd IREPAS meeting decided not to travel to... Read More
Short Range Outlook : February 2020
Surplus supply and inadequate demand in global longs market There is still a surplus of supply and not enough demand in the global long steel products market. The profitability and margins of steel producers vary greatly between regions amid several factors such as the coronavirus outbreak and/or geopolitical issues like recent announcements relating to Israel/Palestine and Libya creating uncertainties for the future. Full impact of coronavirus in... Read More
US not to pursue tariffs on Brazilian steel
Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro announced on social media following a conversation he had with Donald Trump that the US President has decided not to pursue tariffs on Brazilian steel. The US was threatening to reimpose the 25 percent safeguard duty on imports of Brazilian steel and the 10 percent tax on imports of ex-Brazil aluminium. No official document has yet been released by the US on the issue. Read More
IREPAS in Duesseldorf : Changing trade flows and market challenges discussed against backdrop of protectionism, trade conflicts and depressed conditions
The 81st meeting of IREPAS (the International Rebar Exporters and Producers Association) was held in Duesseldorf, Germany on September 22-24, 2019 in conjunction with the SteelOrbis Fall’19 Conference. There were 138 producer representatives among the 426 registered delegates from a total of 46 different countries. There were also 78 registrations representing 38 different raw material suppliers. At the opening of the conference, Murat Cebecioglu,... Read More
Short Range Outlook : September 2019
Global long steel market currently depressed amid more difficult circumstances The global long steel products market is depressed at the moment as circumstances are becoming more difficult. It has become a buyer’s market and is difficult to secure orders at reasonable prices. The problem lies more on the demand side rather than with supply, and, therefore, it might take longer for a balance to be reached. Steel prices decline amid sharp drops in... Read More
EU reduces increase in steel import quotas
The European Commission (EC) has announced that it has reduced the planned increase in the steel import quota rate from five percent to three percent in all product categories, as result of the review of the safeguard measures imposed on February 2. The EC indicated that steel imports in 2018 reached a record volume of 33.4 million mt, 5 million mt higher than the average for the 2015-2017 period and 3 million mt higher than for 2017 alone, which... Read More