UK divides import quota for hot-rolled steel

The UK government has approved the recommendation of the Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) to split the import quota (TRQ) for hot-rolled flat products and increase its volume. This is stated in the report of the agency.

The TRA’s proposal was made public in August this year in response to Tata Steel’s plans to go green and shut down blast furnaces at its Port Talbot facility.

Starting October 1, two types of quotas will be applied to imports of hot-rolled plates: 1A (commercial imports) and 1B (applicable only to downstream companies).

The total quota for hot-rolled steel for the two subcategories will be around 3.3 million tons per year – 1 million tons per year for 1A and 2.3 million tons per year for 1B. If these limits are exceeded, importers will have to pay a 25 percent tariff.

The category 1B quota will also be distributed on a global basis to allow companies to establish reliable supply chains for domestic processing, and with a 40% cap to ensure that no one country dominates exports under this new quota.

At the same time, after the government approved the recommendation to allocate import quotas, the TRA should reconsider its recommendation to suspend the hot-rolled steel quotas, which was made in February this year in response to the applications of Tata Steel UK and Kromat Trading. The agency should analyze whether the temporary change in market conditions persists after the new decision is implemented. Stakeholders can comment on the reassessment until October 13 this year, and the reassessment should be completed by December 31, 2024.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in July 2024, British traders proposed to exclude hot-rolled coils from safeguard measures, as Tata Steel will not produce these products for sale in the country. During the decarbonization campaign, the company will only produce cold-rolled coils for the needs of its galvanizing lines.