Anti-dumping measures on coil imports into Europe could see further changes in the coming months, as additional investigations are expected.

Market sources tell of rumours circulating of an imminent EU investigation into Turkish and Russian hot-dip galvanized coil. The investigation has not yet been announced, but market participants hear it is ready for launch.

According to official data, second-quarter EU safeguard quotas for category 4a metallic coated sheet – not used in the automotive sector – have been 83% exhausted. 4b quotas – specifically for the automotive sector – have been less used, except for the UK, China and South Korea, which have almost exhausted their respective quotas.

Russia and Turkey do not have specific country quotas allocated for either of the sub-groups. Nevertheless, both have seen their HDG sales to Europe jump since 2016, according to Eurofer data. Turkey could this year supply over 1.2 million tonnes of HDG to the EU; in 2016 it was slightly more than 80,000t. Russia should close the year with sales of some 450,000t, up from less than 40,000t in 2016.

A trader confirms to Kallanish that everyone is expecting an investigation into Turkish and Russian HDG to be announced soon. He adds that Russian steelmakers are also trying to convince the European Commission to review the existing AD duty on Russian cold rolled coil, but the Commission is unlikely to accept their request.