Ukraine is continuing negotiations with the European Union on maintaining access for domestic metal products to the European market following the entry into force of the new EU steel market protection mechanism.
The press service of the Ministry of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture reported this in a statement to Ukrinform.
The ministry noted that, under the current EU tariff quota regime, Ukraine has individual quotas for the supply of a number of types of metal products, including hot-rolled and cold-rolled steel, rebar, wire rod, pipe products, and wire. Their total volume amounts to approximately 1.05 million metric tons per year.
Once the guaranteed individual quotas are exhausted, Ukrainian producers may export products within the general quotas open to countries that have free trade agreements with the EU, on a “first come, first served” basis. For certain categories of steel products for which individual quotas have not been established, access to shared tariff quotas is also provided.
At the same time, as noted by the Ministry of Economy, paragraph 5 of the preamble to the European Commission’s implementing regulation published on June 30 provides for differentiated access to tariff quotas for certain EU partners that are part of the Free Trade Area (FTA). In particular, Ukraine is set to benefit from a more preferential allocation of tariff quotas than other FTA partners.
