Stainless imports uncertainty follows EU ‘melted and poured’ proposal

The European Commission’s plans to explore the implementation of a new “melted and poured” rule to tackle circumvention of EU import safeguard measures has created uncertainty among stainless steel importers.  

The Commission says that it will assess the introduction of the rule to determine the original producer of imported steel in order to “eliminate the possibility to change the origin” by performing “minimal transformation”. In doing so, it wants to tackle circumvention of countervailing and antidumping regulations.  

The proposals come less than a year after the conclusion of the Commission’s investigation into stainless steel imports originating in Indonesia. That resulted in countervailing and antidumping duties on stainless steel cold rolled imports from Taiwan and Vietnam, resulting in rates of almost 40% in some cases.   

During MEPS’s March research period, importers said that the “melted and poured” proposal will add uncertainty to the market. European distributors, many of which are already under financial strain due to low demand, fear losing access to low-cost material.  

• This content first appeared in the March edition of MEPS International's Stainless Steel Review. The publication features market insight, stainless steel prices, indices and forecasts from key markets in Europe, Asia and North America. Visit mepsinternational.com or contact MEPS for details of how to subscribe.

Tighter import regulations will benefit the EU’s stainless steel mills, however. MEPS’s European grade 304 and grade 316 stainless steel prices declined marginally this month and are down 5.1% and 5.4% year-on-year, respectively. Any new regulation that restricts imports will support mills’ efforts to raise prices.  

The “melted and poured” proposal was contained within the Commission’s Steel and Metals Action Plan. The plan is heavily focused on ensuring the sustainability of the EU steel industry. It includes new strategies to increase steelmakers’ access to affordable energy and, potentially, introduce a trade measure to control scrap exports.  

Furthermore, the Steel and Metals Action Plan says that a replacement for the current EU import safeguard measures, which will expire at the end of June 2026, will be proposed no later than quarter three of this year.  

Worldstainless data shows that global stainless steel production increased by 5.4% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2024, reaching 46.09 million tonnes. Meanwhile, EU stainless steel imports rose by 26.4%, to 1.23m tonnes, in 2024.  

Limited revisions to EU safeguard measures  

The Steel and Metals Action Plan was published on March 19, eight days after a draft of revisions to the EU import safeguard measures. The long-awaited revisions – subsequently adopted, on March 25 – did little to limit stainless steel imports into the EU, however. MEPS respondents cited Thailand’s addition to the “other countries” quota and the application of a new country-specific quota for Malaysia as the most significant changes.   

No quotas were reduced. Quotas, including those for Indian bars, will be subject to a reduced annual liberalisation rate of 0.1% (previously 1.0%), from July 1, however. A 25% cap was also applied to individual nations’ use of the “other countries” quarterly quota for stainless bars and sections, resulting in an available volume of 1,287 tonnes per country in quarter two.  

Steel mills’ hopes that stricter safeguard measures would reduce the influx of low-cost stainless steel imports into the EU were not fully realised.  

On March 12 the United States implemented the blanket reintroduction of 25% US Section 232 tariffs. It may, ultimately, be the contents of the Steel and Metals Action Plan – not the long-awaited safeguard revisions – that mitigate the threat of low-cost exports redirected from the US into the EU.   

Market participants in the United Kingdom are now calling for a tightening of its trade defence measures. The UK Steel trade association has applied to the UK government for a tariff-rate quota review. Among the amendments it calls for is the reduction of the current annual quota liberalisation rate from 3% to 0.1%.