Tata Steel UK imports 25 thousand tons of hot-rolled coil from India

Tata Steel UK, the UK’s largest steel producer, imports 25,000 tonnes of hot rolled coil (HRC) from its Indian parent company, informs Argus.Media.

The products are primarily supplied to Tata Steel distribution centers affected by production problems in the UK and the Netherlands. It is due for customs clearance in June, Tata Steel UK may deliver larger batches in the next quota period.

The UK’s HRC quota for other countries, which includes Indian material, is 21.9 thousand tons per quarter. However, it currently amounts to about 47,000 tons (after carrying over 32,600 tons from previous quarters). Starting from July 2023, the previous residual volumes cannot be carried over, since this is the beginning of a new period of the annual quota, accordingly, the opportunities for importers will be smaller.

Given the products coming in through traders, quotas are likely to be exceeded in the third quarter, especially if Tata Steel buys larger tonnages. In addition, the imported HRC, which will arrive at the end of June 2023, may be partially processed already in July.

In view of the large gap between import prices and the prices of European and British plant, service centers in recent months turned to their Asian products. At present, some are at risk of not having access to some of this steel, and importers may withdraw from the market due to the possibility of tariffs.

Traders are concerned that Tata Steel is importing such a large tonnage – more than the normal monthly quota for other countries. At the same time, a source in the company said that they do not intend to create problems for the industry and have carefully considered the plans before starting imports.

As GMK Center reported earlier, Tata Steel expects that its European operations will improve in July-September 2023 due to the drop in energy costs. Falling demand in Europe and lower steel prices negatively affected the company’s revenues in the fourth quarter of the 2022/2023 financial year (January-March 2023). European operations, which account for about 35% of the company’s total revenue, fell by about 17% during the period.

Also, at the end of March, Tata Steel IJmuiden announced that in April it begins the modernization of blast furnace №6, the downtime was not disclosed. In preparation for the modernization, in particular, sufficient slab stocks were created to continue operating the rolling assets and meet customer demand. At the same time, as of the end of March 2023, force majeure was still in effect regarding the condition of cold rolling mill №21 of the enterprise.