antidumping duties on HRC


EU imposed new antidumping duties on HRC from Turkey, ranging between 4.5% – 7.6% in December 2020. Coupled with on-going EU’s countervailing duty probe since June 2020, the decision was considered in line with several attempts to slow down Turkish hot rolled coils exports in the recent years according to Turkish Steel Producers Association (TCUD).

In 2019, European Union initially announced steel import quotas from non-EU countries. These measures were later turned into country-specific steel quotas targeting 26 steel product categories to protect European steel market from flooding. With EU’s antidumping duties on HRC, Turkey’s hot rolled coil products’ quota was set to 345,000 tons per quarter. On the other hand, Turkish HRC exports to European Union countries in second half of 2019 amounted to 947,000 tons.

Last year, EU took further steps to protect its steel market amid trade tensions, and negative impacts of coronavirus pandemic. Between March – June 2020, European steel demand shrunk 50%, while approximately 40% of EU steel workforce was either laid off or switched to part-time shifts. In 2020’s first quarter, Turkey exported 530,000 tons of HRC to EU. According to EUROFER, European imported HRC volume decreased by 36.1% to 2,118 million tons in 2020 Q1.

Based on TCUD’s latest press release, European Union’s current antidumping duties on HRC were result of EUROFER’s push in November 2020. As the new measures take the past export volumes into account, they are expected to put extra pressure on Turkish steel exports to EU in 2021.

Between January – October, Turkish steel exports volume dropped 10.5% to 13.3 million tons, steel exports value was down 18% to $6.8 billion compared to the same period in 2019. Between January – October 2020, Turkish steel imports volume increased by 8.2% to 10.4 million tons, while imported steel value was down 4.2% to $6.2 billion.

EU Steel Exports Share by Countries (YTD July 2020)

Country Share of Exported Steel by EU
Turkey 13.65%
United Kingdom 13.41%
United States 10.2%
Switzerland 8.42%
China 5.27%
Rest of the world 49.05%

(Source: Trade.gov)

As Turkish steel sector has been demanding a level playing field with EU’s steel market in the recent years, Turkey is currently evaluating a possible antidumping duty on HRC from European Union countries. The final decision is expected to be announced soon, yet the country has avoided tit-for-tat tariffs on EU steel products in the recent past.

Since no-deal Brexit with EU was avoided in the last days of 2020, Turkey and United Kingdom are set to sign a free trade agreement, which is expected to improve the steel trade between the two countries.

The EU Steel Exports in 2020 (YTD July 2020)

Country Steel Exports Volume – YTD July 2019 (in thousand metric tons) Steel Exports Volume – YTD July 2020 (in thousand metric tons)
United Kingdom 2,861.3 1,962.3
United States 2,477.3 1,492.5
Turkey 2,153.2 1,997.5
Switzerland 1,402 1,232.5
China 641.9 771.3

(Source: Trade.gov)

EU Steel Exports to Turkey (YTD July 2020)

Product Type Export Volume (YTD July 2019) (in thousand metric tons) Export Volume (YTD July 2020)

(in thousand metric tons)
Flat Steel Products (HRC, CRC, etc.) 1,679 1,503.5
Long Steel Products (bars, rods, etc.) 234.5 308.4
Stainless Steel Products 110.8 105.2
Pipes & Tubes 53.6 45.8
Semi-finished steel products 75.1 34.5

(Source: Trade.gov)