European steel buyers are likely to turn to the import market to purchase material in the coming months until the quotas recently applied by the EU are filled, Metal Bulletin Research (MBR) believes.
Long steel buyers have shunned imports in recent weeks amid uncertainty about the form that the EU's preliminary safeguard measures would take.But attractive import prices, together with fears of being affected by tariffs, were two principal reasons why buyers were likely to return to the import market sooner rather than later.QuotasOn June 18, the European Commission (EC) announced provisional safeguard measures against 23 types of steel imports, which were enforced from July 19.The EC introduced a tariff rate quota (TRQ) system, with quotas based on the average of import volumes between 2015 and 2017. When imports exceed the quota level, a duty of 25% will be charged.Over the 200 days following the announcement, European buyers will be able to import 1.06 million tonnes of non-alloy wire rod before tariffs take effect, 714,964 tonnes of rebar and 167,817 tonnes of sections and angles.Based on 2017's import volumes, wire rod imports would...