EU will update safeguard measures for HRC and wire rod, and extend them until 2026

The European Union (EU) announced to the World Trade Organization (WTO) that it will extend its steel safeguard measures until 30 June 2026. This extension, which will last for another two years, will affect access to the remaining tariff rate quota, particularly for products such as hot rolled coil and wire rod.

New measures are scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2024. Member states are expected to vote on the document this week. Accordingly, the annual liberalization rate will increase from 1% to 4%. However, there will be more restrictive adjustments to quotas for hot-rolled coils and wire rods.

“ Data show that the past liberalization rate has largely overtaken consumption growth,” the EU Commission reported in a statement. Tariff Rate Quotas have increased since the measure was introduced, while consumption has decreased over the same period.”

SteelRadar's weekly EU quota assessment revealed differences between countries in the use of wire rod and HRC quotas. Türkiye fully utilized its wire rod quota of 116,750 tons, while India filled its HRC quota of 341,552 tons. Other countries remained below 50% in their quota utilization.

Particularly Switzerland used 15.52% of its 353,525 tons of wire rod quota, Moldova used 19.16% of its 150,865 tons of wire rod quota and the United Kingdom used 6.98% of its 567,595 tons of wire rod quota. For HRC, South Korea used 45.86% of its quota of 219,008 tons, Serbia used 22.38% of its quota of 333,357 tons, Türkiye used 13.52% of its quota of 1,282,691 tons and the United Kingdom used 5.37% of its quota of 484,911 tons.

Quota utilization by countries in EU quotas are as follows;