The European Union's second-quarter quota for steel imports opened just one week ago, and some long steel suppliers have already used a large portion of their allocations, with sources expecting long steel volumes to be absorbed very quickly, thus depriving European customers of diverse supply options,Fastmarkets understands.
Russia
Russian mills have already consumed about 80-90% of both their rebar and wire rod allocations since the April 1 opening of the quota, Fastmarkets heard.
European Union customs data from April 7 showed that Russia supplied 48,670 tonnes of rebar to the EU, representing 84.52% of its 57,583-tonne rebar quota for the April 1-June 30 period.
The country also shipped 71,745 tonnes of wire rod to the EU, representing 90.11% of its 79,620-tonne quota for the second quarter.
Russian producers were very active exporters in March, so long steel exports to the EU might in fact exceed allocations, European market sources said.
"According to our estimations, about 100,000 tonnes of rebar from Russia is about to enter the EU in [the second quarter], which means that about...