The European Commission has announced that it has developed a detailed allocation of tariff quotas across countries under the EU's new steel trading regime. The total annual tariff quota volume of 18.35 million tons will be distributed across 26 categories of steel products, replacing the previous administration of protective quotas. Each quota is divided equally into four quarterly volumes.
Half of the import quotas are allocated exclusively to free trade agreement (FTA) partners, and the remaining half will be available to all exporting countries, including FTA partners.
Three different mechanisms for access to quotas are established
The resolution establishes three different mechanisms for access to quotas depending on the exporting country. status.
Countries that have received a Country Specific Quota (CSQ) can immediately use the quota allocated to them. Once exhausted, eligible FTA partners may continue to export under an additional FTA quota - CSQ, which is administered on a first-come, first-served basis.
Countries without country-specific quotas may instead access:
- Other Countries Quota: Available to exporting countries that are not FTA partners.
- Quota FTA. - Other countries quota: available to exporting countries that are FTA partners.
HRC represents almost one third of the total tariff quota
The Commission emphasizes that Category 1A (hot-rolled sheets and strips of non-alloy and other alloys) represents almost one third of the total tariff quota. Total Category 1A quotas now stand at nearly 5.2 million tonnes, up from 7.7 million tonnes in the previous quota year (July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026).
For Category 1A, Turkey receives the largest country-specific quota at 642,295 tonnes, followed by India (597,274 tonnes), Japan (551 539 tons), Ukraine (483,529 tons), South Korea (461,830 tons), Vietnam (414,972 tons), Egypt (404,929 tons), Taiwan. (278,923 tons) and Serbia (258,095 tons). These countries can use the FTA - CSQ quota once their CSQs are exhausted as mentioned above.
Looking at other high volume quotas, in the new system the quotas allocated for CRC and metal coated sheets (4A) are 3.9 million tons and 2.4 million tons respectively, compared to 1.5 million tons and 1.6 million tons respectively in the previous quota. year.
