Turkey to impose import duties on EU and Korean steel

Turkish Minister of Commerce, after examining the complaint of Turkish steelmakers, has began an anti dumping probe on imports of hot rolled coil from the European Union and South Korea.

The ministry determined that the Turkish manufacturers suffered material injury or the threat of it as a result of dumped imports from the EU and South Korea. The probe came only a day after the EU imposed tariffs of 4.8-7.6% against Turkey on hot rolled coil in a bid to curb competition for EU based steel makers.

The duties will be imposed on a provisional basis on 14 January and will be valid for six months, which is expected to limit exports to the region by Turkish mills.

The Turkish Steel Producers Association TCUD has previously called upon the Turkish government to impose similar counter-measures on steel imports from the EU, arguing that quotas and trade investigations had already notably reduced exports of HRC by Turkish mills to the EU, their main export market, while imports from the EU remained strong.

Turkey imported around 1.3 million tonnes of HRC from the EU in the first 10 months of 2020, relatively unchanged year on year, while HRC imports from South Korea reached 262,000 tonnes over the same period