A number of EU safeguard quota allocations were rapidly exhausted during the first week of April, confirming the fears of buy-side sources in the bloc, Kallanish notes.

As expected, Indian-origin hot rolled coil allocations of slightly over 160,000 tonnes for the second quarter were all used up during the first days of becoming available. Importers of Indian HRC can now use the remaining almost 300,000t quota from the “other countries” allocation. However, sources note that most of this will be used rapidly as volumes previously ordered are on their way to European shores.

In the long products segment, quotas for Turkish-origin merchant bar and light sections have also been exhausted, as have quotas for Russian wire rod.

Meanwhile, quotas have also been exhausted for hollow sections from Turkey and Russia, indicating the strong demand for imports of this product. It is worth noting that the UK’s second-quarter safeguard quotas for Turkish hollow sections have also already been fully used.