Steel producers in the Middle East asked for more protectionism against cheap imports in 2019 and this trend is expected to continue in 2020.
GCC
The Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries started a safeguard investigation on several steel products in October this year. The investigation covers the period from January 2014 to June 2019 and focuses on hot-rolled flat products, rebar, wire rod, sections, and welded and seamless pipes.
GCC countries include Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
In addition to this investigation, the GCC introduced measures against increasing imports in 2018 and 2019. The
import duty on rebar was increased to 10% from 5%, effective from January 1, 2019, and
wire rod also became subject to a 10% import duty in February 2019.
The GCC ministerial committee announced a safeguard duty on imports of
pre-painted galvanized coil (PPGI), or color-coated coil in widths of over 600mm, in February 2018, in effect for three years.
But all these measures are not sufficient to support local production...