DOC US announces tariff quotas for European countries

Under the Tariff Quota agreement, volumes based on EU steel history will enter the US without being subject to Section 232 duties under certain conditions.

The US Department of Commerce announced last week that the total annual import volume under the Tariff Quota is set at 3.3 million tonnes across 54 product categories and is distributed on the basis of EU member states, consistent with the historical period 2015-2017.

Germany – 907,893 tons

Netherlands – 507,598 tons

Italy – 360,477 tons

Sweden – 129,363 tons

Belgium - About 90,000 tons

Austria - About 11,000 tons

Czech Republic - About 60,000 tons

The remainder was divided between France and other producers.

Tariff quotas will be calculated for each year and administered quarterly. They will be allocated on a "first come, first served" basis to different product categories. Any unused Tariff Quota volume from the first quarter of the year, up to 4% of the quota allocated for that quarter, will carry over to the third quarter. Any unused Tariff Quota volume from Q2 of the year, under the same limit, will carry over to Q4 and any unused Tariff Quota volume from Q3, with the same limit, will move to the first quarter of the following year.

The US imported about 2.50 million tons of steel from the EU last year, 4.00 million tons in 2019 and 5.00 million tons in 2018.

Sat Thep