EU to (almost) ban imports of Russian semi-finished steel products
On October 6, the European institutions announced the adoption of a new package - the eighth one - of sanctions against Russia, following the country's aggression against Ukraine.
The measures include a ban on Russian semi-finished steel products imported to the EU territory for the first time; besides, the blockade will also affect the imports of products made from Russian steel and further processed in third countries. An additional three-month grace period is provided to allow the execution of contracts signed before the adoption of the new rules. The European Commission's website also specifies that for "certain semi-finished steel products with stringent technical requirements" intended for "further processing by the EU steel industry," there will be a phased introduction of the ban after a 2-year transition period: during this period, a quota system will be in place.
These steel products with stringent technical requirements are the so-called billets and slabs (codes 720711 and 72071210). Most likely, this exception arises from the desire of the most important European authorities to safeguard the interests of the re-rollers sector. This part of the industry is heavily dependent on Russian imports and had strongly disagreed with the inclusion of these codes in the new sanctions package, even days before the measure was adopted.
According to the Ukrainian think tank GMK Center, in the first six months of 2022 slabs and billets accounted for 99.7 percent of semi-finished steel imports to the EU. During this period, imports from Russia increased by 20.8 percent and 10.7 percent per year respectively, due to the absence of Ukrainian suppliers in the market. The two-year window should nimbly allow European manufacturers to find alternative supply sources.
Photo by Jeremy Segrott, Flickr
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