EU intensifies protection system for steel market

The EU exacerbates the protective measures for the domestic steel industry. As the responsible European Commission announced, it was decided to drastically limit an intended recovery of duty -free steel imports. Rules to handle unused import rates are also changed.

« The stricter measures should give EU steel producers air to increase their production and thus regain lost market share, » said the EU Commission. At the same time, the aim is to promote employment and investments in green steel production.

As the background of the decision, the Brussels authority mentions the considerable pressure through global overcapacities, rising exports from China and the new special tariffs for steel imports to the USA.

The steel industry warehouse has deteriorated

Specifically, it follows a review examination that was requested by 13 EU member states and came to the conclusion that the situation of the steel industry is further deteriorated due to the increasing import pressure and the falling demand.

Most changes come into force on April 1, changes to the so-called liberalization rate and the abolition of the transfer of certain unused import volumes on July 1. The liberalization rate prescribed by the World Trade Organization (WTO) describes the annual percentage, which increases the duty -free import quantity restricted as part of protective measures. So far, it has been one percent in the EU protection measures for steel and will now only be 0.1 percent from July.

The Association of the European Steel Industry (Eurofer) had recently announced that it sees the new US tariffs as a significant threat to production in the EU-among other things, because this could lose US export transactions of up to 3.7 million tons. In addition, Eurofer pointed out that the United States imported around 23 million tons of steel products from third countries outside the EU in 2024. These volumes could now be massively switched to the European market.