Turkey imposed on Wednesday up to 14% additional duties on several types of steel imports, Turkish media has reported.
The decision to increase the duty rates has been taken to prevent a rise in steel imports into the country.
Imports of hot-rolled flat steel will be subject to 14% additional import duty until 30 September 2020, while a 10% additional import duty will be applied to various cold-rolled flat steel. Alloy steel wires, tubes and pipes will have about 10%-11% additional import duty.
These rates are set to be reduced in October, with the additional duty on hot-rolled flat steel decreasing to 9%, down from the initial 14%.
Cold-rolled flat steel will be subject to a 5% additional import duty, down from 10% and alloy flat steel imports will be subject to a 6% import duty down from 11%. Alloy steel wires, tubes and pipes will be subject to 5% additional duty in October, down from 10%.
On 21 April, Turkey increased import duties on several steel products, including rebar which saw a 35% increase, and wires which saw a 30% increase. Cast iron tubes, pipes and barbed wire were also subject to a 30% increase in import duties.
However, licence holders for Turkey’s inward-processing regime were exempted from such duties. About 90% of flat steel imports enter Turkey under this regime, which allows companies to avoid import duties on steel as long as the end products, such as pipes, automotive steel or white goods, are exported.
Turkey’s flat steel imports between January and March 2020 totalled around 1.821 million tonnes. These figures represent an increase of 24.73% from the 1.460 tonnes imported in the first quarter (Q1) of 2019, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute.
