Turkey has announced the preliminary results of its safeguard measure investigation on alloyed and non-alloyed wire rod imports, according to a statement published in the country’s Official Gazette. A temporary safeguard measure of $175/mt has been introduced for wire rod imports for 200 days.
During the investigation, it was found that the recent increase in imports of the given products poses threat of injury to the domestic industry.
If the final safeguard measure is determined to be lower than the temporary safeguard measure, the difference will be refunded, while if it is determined to be higher, the difference will not be collected. If it is found that there is no need for safeguard measures, the temporary measure will be revoked and the previously determined amount will be refunded.
In addition, products originating from 113 countries and customs territories, including Afghanistan, Argentina, the Philippines and Belarus, will be exempt from the temporary safeguard measure and will be subject to a total tariff quota of 45,665 mt.
With the announced measure, Turkey has practically closed opportunities for wire rod imports since the import duty rate is quite high for the regularly-purchased origins, while the quota will be viable businesswise only for supply from some destinations. Inflow of wire rod of duty-free origins, including Egypt and Malaysia, will hardly be present in the Turkish market from now on, while sales from Russia are expected to be halted as well, unless Russian suppliers are willing to sell at prices which will absorb the additional $175/mt tax. As for the quota, there may be some supply from Belarus or Russian origin supply sold as coming from Belarus or Kazakhstan. Since from now on Turkish buyers will lack import possibilities, domestic prices are expected to rise. “Local producers will increase prices, which will be harmful [for the market],” a trader told SteelOrbis.
In the January-September period of 2023, Turkey imported around 620,000 mt of wire rod, with the list of suppliers headed by Malaysia, Egypt and Russia, followed by Spain, South Korea, the UK and China.
The products subject to the investigation fall under Customs Tariff Statistics Position Numbers 7213.10.00.00.00, 7213.20.00.00.11, 7213.20.00.00.12, 7213.20.00.00.13, 7213.20.00.00.19, 7213.91.10.00.00, 7213.91.20.00.00, 7213.91.41.00.11, 7213.91.41.00.12, 7213.91.41.00.13, 7213.91.41.00.19, 7213.91.49.00.11, 7213.91.49.00.12, 7213.91.49.00.13, 7213.91.49.00.19, 7213.91.70.10.11, 7213.91.70.10.12, 7213.91.70.10.13, 7213.91.70.10.19, 7213.91.70.90.00, 7213.91.90.00.00, 7213.99.10.00.11, 7213.99.10.00.13, 7213.99.90.10.11, 7213.99.90.10.13, 7213.99.90.10.19, 7213.99.90.90.00, 7227.10.00.00.00, 7227.20.00.00.00, 7227.90.10.00.00, 7227.90.50.00.00, and 7227.90.95.00.00.