UK TRA recommends extension of safeguard measures for 15 steel categories

The final recommendation was submitted to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade

The UK’s Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) has made a final recommendation to extend safeguard measures on 15 steel products for another two years (until June 2026) to protect the country’s steel industry from a sharp rise in imports. This is stated in the report of the Ministry.

The final recommendation has been submitted to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, who will review the TRA’s conclusion before publishing his decision.

The current measures will expire on June 30, 2024, unless extended. If extended in accordance with the World Trade Organization rules, no other safeguard measures for these categories of steel can be introduced for the next eight years.

The review was launched in September 2023. In conducting the review, the TRA found that imports are likely to increase if the safeguard measures expire and that the UK industry could be severely harmed again.

In February this year, the agency published a statement of intent for a final decision (SIFD). Stakeholders had until March 7 to submit comments.

This recommendation is not related to the review of hot rolled flat products initiated due to market changes. In response to Tata Steel’s plans to close its blast furnaces in Port Talbot, TRA is separately reviewing hot rolled flat products quotas and corresponding tariff rates. Any suspension of measures for these products or adjustments to quota allocations will be made separately from the agency’s current recommendations.

As GMK Center reported earlier, UK steelmakers reduced steel production by 6.5% in 2023 compared to 2022, to 5.6 million tons. Thus, the country ranked 26th in the global ranking of steel producing countries by WorldSteel. Steel production in the country has been on a downward trend for the second year in a row. In 2022, production decreased by 15.6% y/y – to 6.2 million tons, while in 2021 it increased by 3.9% y/y – to 7.4 million tons.