UK TRA gets approval on split HRC import quota proposal

The UK Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) on 30 September received government approval of its recommendation to split and increase hot rolled coil (HRC) import quotas, but has been requested to reassess its proposal to temporarily suspend the quotas.

The UKA TRA on 30 September made a separate recommendation to suspend the quota for nine months, in light of Tata Steel UK's closure of its blast furnaces and increased imports of HRC. It started its review of this in February 2024 at the request of Tata and steel importer Kromat.

But following the government's approval of its recommendation to split the HRC import quotas, the TRA should reassess its recommendation to suspend the quotas, the secretary of state for business and trade, Jonathan Reynolds, said on 30 September.

"I would like the TRA to analyse whether, following implementation of the TRQ review solution, the temporary change in market conditions still persists", he said, adding the reassessment should be completed by 31 December 2024.

The government's acceptance of the recommendation to split HRC quotas means that from 1 October there will be a 1A quota and 1B quota in place, and the latter can only be used for companies completing downstream processing.

The 1A quota for October-December will be 249,391t, and is divided on a country-by-country basis, with the EU getting the largest chunk of the quota at 187,484t. The quota for other countries will be 23,587t. The 1A quota totals 1mn t/yr.

The 1B quota will be 578,587t for October-December, and can be sourced globally with a 40pc individual country cap, after which a 25pc duty would be payable. The 1B quota is 2.36mn t/yr, higher than the 1.9mn t/yr recommended by the TRA.

By Colin Richardson