Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/104 of 12 January 2023 amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/159 imposing a definitive safeguard measure on imports of certain steel products following a report adopted by the World Trade Organization’s Dispute Settlement Body

Covering those steel products under the safeguard measure and excluding the measures imposed by the European Union, and those imposed against imports from EU exporting producers. For an overview of the TDI measures imposed by the European Union on product categories subject also to the safeguard measure see Annex 1.B. of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1382 of 2 September 2019, amending certain Regulations imposing anti-dumping or anti-subsidy measures on certain steel products subject to safeguard measures (OJ L 227, 3.9.2019, p. 1).

For reference of the main steel importing countries in the period of investigation, see OECD, “Recent developments in steel trade and trade policy measures - A closer look at non-tariff trade measures”, DSTI/SC(2018)3, of 26 January 2018, page 9, table 3. Available at the following link. (https://one.oecd.org/document/DSTI/SC(2018)3/en/pdf)

These countries were (listed alphabetically): China (10 %), India (9 %), Korea (10 %), Russia (14 %), Taiwan (5 %), Türkiye (22 %) and Ukraine (7 %). They represented, on average, around 75 % of imports of the product concerned into the Union in the period 2013-2017.

See recital (76) of EUROFER’s submission of 16 April 2018 in the original investigation, linked to more granular information on each of the measures considered, provided in Annex A07 D.1. Source of the data: SBB Platts.

See CRU data: consumption for years 2017 and 2018 was rather stable (only around 2 % increase).

A similar trend was observed when assessing the impact of TDI measures on products other than steel.

Around 15 million tonnes of combined imports affected by these measures, out of which, only slightly more than 2 million tonnes continued entering the market after the measures. For details, see Note to the File, table 2.

See Note to the File dated 30 November 2022, Table 3.

To impose a TDI measure, the volumes concerned by each investigation need to be above de minimis. In addition, steel is usually traded in rather large volumes as seen in the examples from EU TDI practice and from the sampled cases of TDI measures in other third countries.

These countries accounted consistently for around 75 % of total imports into the Union in the period of investigation.

Source: For imports into the Union: Eurostat; for TDI measures: WTO, Integrated Trade Intelligence Portal (I-TIP).

For the purpose of explaining the link of the US Section 232 and the increased imports, the Commission refers, within those recitals, only to the data until June 2018 included. The reason is that the increase in imports assessed in the Definitive Regulation covers up to that month.

Source: GTA, cumulated exports from Türkiye, Korea, Russia and Taiwan to the United States (graph 2); and cumulated exports from the same countries to the USA and the Union (graph 3).

See recitals (90) and (110) of the Definitive Regulation.

See OECD Steel Committee – Recent developments in steel trade and trade policy measures, 17-18 September, 2018, p. 8, Table 2 (showing that in 2018 Union was consolidating further its position as main steel importing country worldwide).

Source: DG TRADE calculations on Global Trade Atlas data (https://ihsmarkit.com/index.html)– raw data available upon subscription. For details, see Note to the file dated 30 November 2022, Table 1.

Ibid

Imposition of TDI measures on some product categories also contributed to this improvement, but their specific role is analysed in Section 1.2.2.

Recital (53) of the Provisional Regulation.

See Table 15 of the Definitive Regulation.

These trends were assessed for the product concerned, and not for individual product categories.

Based on a comparison of all the years in the period analysed.

See Table 4 of the Definitive Regulation.

Ibid

See Table 5 of the Definitive Regulation.

See Table 4 of the Definitive Regulation.

See Table 2 of the Definitive Regulation.

Ibid

See Annex III of the Provisional Regulation.

See Table 7 of Definitive Regulation.

See Table 5 of the Definitive Regulation.

See Section 1.2.2. for the explanation of the role of recent TDI measures in the Union industry’s performance in 2017.

Total imports increased by around 1 million tons and their market share went up from 17,9 to 18,1 % from 2016 to 2017, which is less than previous year-on-year increases both in absolute and relative terms.

In this regard the Commission considered that, for instance, a TDI measure imposed in 2013 would be too far in time to be connected to the Union’s improved performance in 2017, and therefore, the selected measures offer a more accurate and appropriate basis for the analysis.

In some cases the scope of a TDI measure on a certain product, in terms of CN codes covered, may not Match entirely the product definition of the corresponding product category under the safeguard measure, thus this assessment is an approximation.

These references to these regulations pertain to the regulations imposing a provisional measure, because for practical purposes, as long as a duty (provisional or definitive) was in place, it was assumed to have a similar impact on the volumes traded. In all these cases, the investigation resulted in the imposition of a definitive measure.

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/501 of 24 March 2015 imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of stainless steel cold-rolled flat products originating in the People's Republic of China and Taiwan (OJ L 79, 25.3.2015, p. 23).

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/181 of 10 February 2016 imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of certain cold-rolled flat steel products originating in the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation (OJ L 37, 12.2.2016, p. 1).

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1778 of 6 October 2016 imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of certain hot-rolled flat products of iron, non-alloy or other alloy steel originating in the People's Republic of China (OJ L 272, 7.10.2016, p. 33).

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/113 of 28 January 2016 imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of high fatigue performance steel concrete reinforcement bars originating in the People's Republic of China (OJ L 23, 29.1.2016, p. 16).

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1777 of 6 October 2016 imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of certain heavy plate of non-alloy or other alloy steel originating in the People's Republic of China (OJ L 272, 7.10.2016, p. 5).

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/969 of 8 June 2017 imposing definitive countervailing duties on imports of certain hot-rolled flat products of iron, non-alloy or other alloy steel originating in the People's Republic of China and amending Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/649 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of certain hot-rolled flat products of iron, non-alloy or other alloy steel originating in the People's Republic of China (OJ L 146, 9.6.2017, p. 17).

Source: DG TRADE analysis of the injury indicators published in the relevant measures and analysis of the questionnaire replies provided by the Union industry per product category in the framework of the original safeguard investigation. For details, see Note to the File dated 30 November 2022, Table 4.

Source: Eurostat

The sum of imports subject to TDI measures by these investigations (although they concern different periods of investigation and different years, e.g. 2013 to 2015) was slightly above 5 million tonnes.

Source: DG TRADE analysis of its own TDI cases for the volume of imports in the relevant investigation period, and Eurostat for import figures following the investigation period of each of these investigations for this implementation.

Categories 1, 2, 7, 9, 12 and 13.

Categories 1, 2 and 9.

See categories 4, 8 and 14.

See categories 5, 6, 15, 16 and 26

See categories 3, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25 and 28.

At least fifteen categories out of a total of twenty three subject to a provisional measure (for which a breakdown was provided in Annex III of the Provisional Regulation.

For instance, Türkiye increased its presence in the Union market in category 1, where China was made subject to TDI measures in October 2016, from 1 062 247 tonnes in 2016 to 2 million tonnes in 2017 (and nearly 3 million tonnes in 2018. In the same vein, India increased from 443 551 tonnes to 1 121 334 tonnes in 2017, or Egypt, from 47 400 tonnes in 2016 to 409 432 tonnes in 2017.

Section 1.2.1. explained the reasons behind the overall improvement of the Union industry regarding the product concerned.

See recitals (57) to (62), and Table 12 of the Definitive Regulation.

To put this volume into context, a basic calculation taking the average steel price in the Union in 2017 shows that the EU industry could lose out on around 1,4 billion EUR worth of domestic sales as a result of these additional imports. Thus showing that the potential impact of these additional sales was relevant.

Whereas the increase in imports into the Union from 2016 to 2017 was much smaller, around 1 million tonnes.

See also OECD Steel Committee – Recent developments in steel trade and trade policy measures, 17-18 September, 2018, p. 8, Table 2.

At the time of the adoption of the definitive safeguard measure, only the following four TDI measures affecting imports into the Union were in place (three against Russia and one against Taiwan): Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1795 of 5 October 2017 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of certain hot-rolled flat products of iron, non-alloy or other alloy steel originating in Brazil, Iran, Russia and Ukraine and terminating the investigation on imports of certain hot-rolled flat products of iron, non-alloy or other alloy steel originating in Serbia (OJ L 258, 6.10.2017, p. 24). Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1328 of 29 July 2016 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty and collecting definitively the provisional duty imposed on imports of certain cold rolled flat steel products originating in the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation (OJ L 210, 4.8.2016, p. 1). Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1469 of 1 October 2018 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of certain seamless pipes and tubes, of iron or steel, originating in Russia and Ukraine, following an expiry review pursuant to Article 11(2) of Regulation (EU) 2016/1036 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 246, 2.10.2018, p. 20). Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1429 of 26 August 2015 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of stainless steel cold-rolled flat products originating in the People's Republic of China and Taiwan (OJ L 224, 27.8.2015, p. 10).

Source: for US imports (GTA); for EU imports (Eurostat).

The US steel market was among the top import destinations by size - See OECD, ‘Recent Developments in Steel Trade and Trade Policy Measures’, DSTI/SC(2018)3, p. 9, table 3.

See recital (35) of the Provisional Regulation: “The U.S. have calculated that the imposition of a single across product tariff under the Section 232 measures with almost no country exclusion should decrease imports by approximately 13 million tonnes – corresponding to 7 % of Union consumption.”

See recital (89) of the Definitive Regulation.

Source: Eurostat for import prices, and S&P Global Commodity Insights for prices of HDG and HRC.

Source: S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Around 140 of the investigations that led to the adoption of measures were initiated in the year 2015 or later, hence their duration was set to be in place, in principle, until at least 2021 (this is, at least 2 years after the conclusion of the EU safeguard investigation). Source: WTO, Integrated Trade Intelligence Portal (I-TIP).

See OECD, ‘Recent Developments in Steelmaking Capacity’, DSTI/SC(2018)2/FINAL: “the updated information on announced investment projects suggests that nearly 52 million tonnes of gross capacity additions are currently underway and could come on stream during the three-year period of 2018-20. An additional 39 million tonnes of capacity additions are currently in the planning stages for possible start-up during the same time period”.

Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity, Ministerial Report, 20 September 2018, paragraph 2.

Definitive Regulation, table 4.

See Worldsteel Association – Global Steel Market Outlook – OECD Steel Committee Meeting, 17 September 2018.

See Worldsteel Association - Worldsteel Short Range Outlook October 2018, Press Release.

See OECD Steel Market Developments, 85^th Session of the Steel Committee, September 2018. See also pages 7 and 8 of OECD Global Economic Outlook, 17 September 2018, showing a downwards revision of growth expectations (also in the Union), and that “global trade had slowed amid growing trade policy uncertainties”.

Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity, Ministerial Report, 20 September 2018, paragraph 2.

See EUROFER – Economic and Steel Market Outlook 2018-2019, 25 October 2018.

See Annex I to the Definitive Regulation.

For further details see Note to the file dated 30 November 2022, Table 5.

WTO doc. WT/Let/1220