Jun 21, 2023
European importers exhaust some HRC safeguard quotas

European importers of hot rolled coil have increased their activity during recent months, due to the favourable price spread between import and EU domestic offers.

According to the latest numbers put together by Metal Consulting International for Eurometal, second-quarter safeguard quotas for the import of HRC under the “Other Country” sub-group have been exhausted as of 19 June. This sub-group is used by importers buying from countries that do not have a specific allocation, meaning those other than Turkey, India, South Korea, the UK and Serbia.

Overall, over 1.1 million tonnes of Q2 quotas under the Other Country group have been used. During Q1, less than 1mt of quotas under this sub-group were used, with over 20% of allocated volumes still available at the end of the period.

Kallanish notes that a significant part of the Q2 allocation – some 18% – was used during the last week, 12-19 June, potentially signalling that material ordered during Q1 at competitive prices is now landing on European shores. It could continue to do so into Q3, when new allocations become available.

In addition to the general quotas, importers also exhausted the Serbian allocation and used some 75% of the available Indian quotas.

According to sources, Japan and Vietnam have been among the competitive suppliers in recent months of HRC into Europe that do not have country specific quotas.

Beyond HRC, importers also used some 62% of available quotas for coated coils, almost exhausting the country specific quotas for China, India and South Korea.

Emanuele Norsa Italy

Source: Eurometal