The European Commission's definitive steel safeguard review could see availability of products under "regime three" tighten in the fourth quarter of the quota period, April-June.
This would impact cold-rolled coil (CRC), non-grain oriented electrical steels, 4A hot-dip galvanised, tin mill, plate, stainless CRC, angles, shapes and sections, sheet piling, and railway steel.
Mill sources suggest the definitive text could prevent rolled over unused volume from previous quarters being accessible to large exporters that have exhausted their own individual quotas. They will still have access to the residual quota, but not volume rolled from previous periods; there could also be a 30pc cap for each large exporter accessing the residual quota in the last period.
The definitive text also included a clause allowing for a review in the last safeguard year — 1 July 2020-30 June 2021 — in case there is a change in circumstances.
While this is a nuanced change, it could be quite impactful and dramatically reduce available volumes to countries with their own quotas in the fourth quarter.
