EU decision on steel quotas poses further challenges for Ukraine – Politico

On 1 July, new EU safeguard measures on steel came into force after the European Commission invoked an emergency procedure that allows it to publish the decision first and then seek approval from the Member States, according to Politico.

Under the procedure, the relevant votes on the allocation are due to take place within two weeks.

These measures, which drastically reduce quotas for certain countries, have been criticised by the Ukrainian mining and steel company Metinvest. The group stated that, given the conditions of a full-scale war now in its fifth year, this decision creates additional challenges at a time when Ukraine is moving towards EU membership.

Metinvest is still assessing the impact of the new measures on the products it exports to Europe.

Politico notes that Ukraine’s quota was set on the basis of low volumes of metal product exports during the first two years of Russia’s full-scale invasion, so this represents a significant reduction compared with last year’s recovered volumes.

In addition to national quotas, the EU has also created a residual quota pool. As Metinvest points out, given the countries with which the company will be competing for these volumes, its prospects of securing commercially significant volumes – particularly as a producer operating under wartime conditions – are limited.

It should be recalled that, according to a study by the GMK Centre, Ukraine is set to face one of the largest reductions in tariff quotas. The country’s annual losses from steel exports could reach 1.3–1.6 million tonnes.