EU to Revamp Steel-Import Controls as Virus-Hit Economy Recovers
(Bloomberg) -- The European Union plans to revamp its steel-import restrictions to guard against major market distortions as the bloc's economy recovers from the effects of the pandemic.
The proposed changes apply to EU import curbs introduced two years ago to prevent a controversial 25% U.S. levy on foreign steel from diverting global shipments to the European market and flooding it.
The European “safeguard” measures involve a 25% tariff on EU imports of 26 types of steel ranging from stainless hot-rolled and cold-rolled sheets to rebars and railway material when the shipments exceed a three-year average. The planned overhaul stops short of quota cuts demanded by European producers.
“It is fundamental that the gradual resumption of activity and return to normality take place in an orderly manner, in such a way that all participants in the EU steel market find their traditional place,” the Brussels-based European Commission, the bloc's executive arm, said in a notice published on Friday evening. The changes are due to take effect on July 1.
EU Steelmakers Send S.O.S. Fearing an Import Surge: Supply Lines
The coronavirus sent the European economy into a tailspin shortly after the commission in February began a routine review of the EU steel-import limits. Slumps in the region's consumption and production of the metal sparked concerns about stockpiling in exporting countries such as China and a possible surge in shipments to Europe as national lockdowns are eased.
“The proposed adjustments should deter any undue stockpiling behavior in the very early phases of the recovery that could empty the market in an opportunistic manner,” the commission said. “These opportunistic practices not only seriously endanger the obligation to preserve traditional trade flows in terms of origins, but also risk unduly displacing domestic production.”
Following are the main planned changes to the EU's management of the import limits, which are known as tariff-rate quotas, or TRQs:
- Move to quarterly management of all country-specific quotas
- Replacement of a global TRQ for hot-rolled flat products with the default system of combined country-specific quotas for the biggest traditional suppliers and residual quotas for the rest
- Introduction of a global TRQ for stainless steel hot-rolled sheets and strips
- Split of a TRQ for large welded tubes into two sub-TRQs -- one for tubes normally used in large engineering projects and the second for product types not used in such projects
- Establishment for countries that have exhausted their specific quotas of three regimes for accessing residual quotas (to replace the default scenario of access in the last quarter of a period): prohibition, limited and status quo
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
-
Signature Play: The Classic Cocktail Is Dead. Or Is It?
Classic cocktails are disappearing from India's cocktail menus. But they're still being ordered, taught to bartenders and borrowed from. So, who's really having the last drink?
-
A New Samvat Wishlist: Inclusive Prosperity And Human Development
India has strengthened its economic foundations through infrastructure, digital access and enterprise. Its next growth chapter must deepen productivity, create better livelihoods and widen participation in prosperity.
-
Love, Sex Aur Dhokha: The Audacious Plot To Spy On Jensen Huang
A Taipei dinner, a Singapore chip buyer and a suspected Chinese asset: inside the alleged spy operation that got close to NVIDIA's Jensen Huang.
-
Ten Things I Learnt This Samvat
Patience can be a trap. Cheap stocks can stay cheap. Leverage can wipe you out. What did Samvat 2082 teach us? Niraj Shah writes on 10 lessons from the year gone by.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
