The UK government has announced that it has accepted the Trade Remedies Authority’s (TRA) recommendation to vary the tariff rate quota (TRQ) on imports of non-alloy and other alloy hot rolled flat steel (Category 1) steel products by splitting Category 1 to form Categories 1A and 1B and expanding the import quota for the given products, effective from October 1, 2024.
According to the statement, the quota for Category 1A will be retained at current levels of just over one million mt annually, while the quota for Category 1B will be set 132 percent higher than that of 1A to around 2.3 million mt annually. With the change, the total Category 1 quota will be approximately 3.3 million mt annually, up from 2.9 million mt.
In addition, the Category 1B quota will also be allocated on a global basis to allow companies to establish reliable supply chains for domestic processing, along with a cap of 40 percent to ensure no single country’s exports dominate this new quota.
Meanwhile, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade has asked the TRA to reassess its suspension review recommendation in light of the decision on the TRQ review. In February this year, the TRA had recommended that the safeguard measure on hot rolled flat and coil steel be suspended for nine months, as SteelOrbis previously reported.