Definitive measures proposed by the European Commission (EC) in the region's safeguard case against steel product imports are unlikely to have any major effect on Europe's imports of flat steel, market sources have told Fastmarkets.
The only exception would be in the hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG) sector, where the EC decided to split its originally proposed product category into two sub-groups, to separate material mainly used by the automotive industry from coil used by other sectors, sources said on Monday January 14.The EC notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) that it intends to impose definitive measures in the form of tariff-rate, partially country-specific and quarterly quotas for 26 steel product categories on January 4.The definitive measures should be introduced before February 4, 2019.Because the EC still has some time to change the proposed document, some market participants are concerned that mills in the region will try to have the regulations made more strict, although others do not expect to see any significant changes because there is not enough time before the definitive measures should come into force.The president of German steel federation WV Stahl, Hans...