KB News Desk
South Korea has secured 2.07 million metric tons of dedicated tariff-free steel exports to the European Union under the bloc’s new import regime, with Korean steelmakers potentially able to ship up to 3.55 million tons, including access to shared quotas.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources said Tuesday the European Commission announced the operating plan and country-by-country allocations for the new tariff-rate quota system, which takes effect Wednesday and replaces the existing steel safeguard measures.
Under the new system, the EU will raise tariffs on steel imports exceeding quota limits to 50 percent across 30 product categories, while cutting annual duty-free import volumes by about 46 percent to 18.35 million tons from 33.82 million tons.
While Korea’s dedicated tariff-free quota was reduced by 19.7 percent to 2.073 million tons from 2.581 million tons under the previous safeguard regime, Seoul said the outcome reflected its efforts to defend Korean steelmakers’ access to the EU market as the bloc cut its overall tariff-free steel import volume by about 46 percent.
“Our priority from the start was to secure as much Korea-specific quota as possible,” Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo said in a press briefing. “Korean steel is not exported to Europe to hurt the EU’s industrial base. It supports Korean auto, battery and manufacturing plants operating there, showing how closely Korea and the EU are linked through manufacturing supply chains.”
The new EU structure separates quotas by product and free trade agreement status, including World Trade Organization country quotas, FTA country quotas and shared FTA quotas. Korea argued that its steel deserved fair treatment as an EU free trade partner and as a key supplier to European auto, appliance and manufacturing supply chains.
The 2.073 million-ton dedicated quota comes from 2.057 million tons allocated to 14 steel categories where Korea’s average EU market share over the past three years was 5 percent or higher, plus 16,000 tons for the remaining 16 categories with a market share below 5 percent.
Korean steelmakers may also tap 1.475 million tons in shared quotas, including 908,000 tons for the higher-share categories and 567,000 tons for the lower-share categories, though those volumes are subject to competition with other exporters.
Yeo said the Korea-EU summit in June helped Seoul make its case in the final stage of negotiations.
“Trade negotiations are not simply about numbers, but about persuading partners on supply chains, investment, jobs, industrial competitiveness and strategic trust,” Yeo said, adding that the government would continue taking preemptive steps to protect Korean companies’ market access amid global steel oversupply and growing import restrictions.
