- Safeguard covers 30 items, with tariff raised to 50%
- Industry body says EU production will recover by 15 mnt
Japan Metal Daily: The European Steel Association (Eurofer) issued a statement on 14 April, welcoming the agreement between the European Parliament and the European Council to take effect from 1 July on the safeguard (emergency import restriction = SG) for steel products that expires at the end of June, saying it was an important step to ensure the long-term survival of the steel industry.
The new measures reflect all the main elements proposed by the European Commission in October last year. It covers 30 items of steel products, and the tariff will be raised to 50% as a successor measure, compared to the current SG tax of 25%. The tariff quota (TRQ) that will be tax-free will also be 18.3 mnt per year, which will be almost halved from the current SG.
According to Eurofer, EU steel imports in the October-December period last year were 9.9 mnt. It is said that the share of imported materials in steel plates has reached one-third compared to the same period last year. Although there seems to have been a rush before the full-scale introduction of carbon border adjustment measures (CBAM) from this year, the official activation of SG’s successor measures “will help bring back the European steel industry that is on the precipice.”
It is said that steel production in the EU will recover by 15 mnt, leading to direct employment of 30,000 people.
The new measures will also introduce “melt and pour” requirements to increase supply chain traceability and transparency. In the future, the European Commission will prepare detailed implementation rules such as the TRQ set by country and the necessary documents for melt and pour requirements.
The previous SG measures that the EU had been invoked could not be re-extended due to WTO rules of up to eight years, and the European steel industry was looking for alternative measures. The EU claims that “negotiations with other countries are conducted in accordance with Article 28 of the GATT and comply with WTO rules,” but the reality is far from it.
Japan’s exports
Steel exports from Japan to the EU will be 580,000 t in 2025. Anti-dumping (anti-unfair sale = AD) measures were applied to hot-rolled coils, and AD investigations began for cold-rolled steel plates, resulting in a decrease of 57% compared to the previous year. Even at present, there are high-quality steel products exported to Europe, and the impact of successor measures is not small.
In the EU, the certificate price purchased by importers as carbon prices in CBAM is also set at about EUR 75/tCO2 in the period ending January-March 2026, which is a de facto non-tariff barrier. In addition, the European Commission launched an SG investigation in March for oriented electrical steel (GO), which was not covered by the previous SG. Like the United States and other countries, it is being cut into “protectionism that does not care about pretending”.
Note: This article is published as part of an article sharing agreement between Japan Metal Daily and BigMint
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