The expected preliminary decision in the current EU safeguard case into steel imports is likely to result in higher domestic prices for flat steel products, but it will also have repercussions for independent steel distributors, market sources have told Metal Bulletin.
"The [provisional] safeguard measures will come soon, most likely in July, but the effect they will have will depend on the way they are set," an Italian distributor said on Thursday June 14."Basically, we can expect support for a rise in prices, but the more important effects will be seen after the definitive measures are settled," he added.The European Commission (EC) is expected to impose preliminary safeguard measures on steel imports in early July this year.It opened an investigation into such products in late March, in an attempt to prevent the redirection to the EU market of steel shipments originally destined for the United States but diverted because of that country's new import tariffs.The announcement of preliminary measures in the safeguard case will probably be used by European steelmakers as a reason to increase prices, according to market sources.In the meantime, steel coil buyers in Europe have mostly been holding...