Interpipe estimates that the EU quota for seamless pipes is 30% too low

The Ukrainian industrial company ‘Interpipe’ has pointed out that the EU quota for seamless pipes allocated to Ukraine has been underestimated. This is stated in a company press release.

‘In the seamless pipes product category, Ukraine was allocated an annual quota of 80.67 thousand tonnes. However, throughout the consultation process, the Ukrainian authorities repeatedly informed the European Commission that this figure was based on an error in the data — a significant proportion of Ukrainian exports to the EU during 2022–2024, as confirmed by Eurostat, was not fully reflected in the baseline calculations,” Interpipe noted.

The company adds that, as a result, Ukraine’s quota for this category is underestimated by at least 30% compared to what it would be if the correct data were used.

Furthermore, according to Interpipe’s own calculations, the implementing regulation does not fully provide preferential treatment for Ukraine, a candidate country for EU membership facing an exceptional security situation, as envisaged by this document, which was adopted by the European Parliament in May this year.

In particular, when calculating the portion of quotas applicable to the most-favoured-nation treatment, Ukraine was treated in the same way as the world’s major exporters, including countries with documented excess non-market capacity. Similarly, the same methodology was applied to the country as to all other FTA partners, without the differentiation explicitly provided for in the regulation.

“Interpipe” considers the current level of EU steel quotas to be a serious blow to Ukraine and the Ukrainian steel industry, which continues to operate in frontline regions under wartime conditions. Furthermore, the allocation of these quotas fails to take into account the significant social and economic consequences for thousands of workers, their families and communities that depend on the Ukrainian steel industry,” said Luca Zanotti, CEO of Interpipe.

According to him, the aim of the new safeguard mechanism is to address the issue of global non-market-driven excess steel production capacity, and in this regard, Ukraine is clearly not part of the problem.

“As CEO of Interpipe, a company suffering from the war, I expect the European Commission to revise the figures for the seamless pipes category for Ukraine by the end of the third quarter of 2026, which is the only fair way to rectify the errors made,” concluded Luca Zanotti.

As reported by GMK Center, 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.