NOT WHAT WAS PROMISED: More complaints about the EU’s July 1 reduction of steel imports are arriving by the day. Ukrainian steel company Interpipe has told Morning Trade that “the [EU steel] quota does not reflect the preferential treatment for Ukraine envisaged by the regulation adopted by the European Parliament.”
What happened? Although the legislation was intended to grant Ukraine special treatment because of Russia’s ongoing invasion, Kyiv was actually hit hard. The EU measure granted it a tariff-free export quota of only 1 million metric tons, less than half what it exported to the bloc last year.
Surge ignored: The figure was derived from the lower volumes the country exported to Europe from 2022 to 2024, the reference period Brussels was legally required to use to calculate the quotas. Although Ukraine’s exports actually surged to 2.2 million metric tons in 2025, that year couldn’t be taken into account — meaning its steelmakers will lose market share.
Severe blow: Interpipe CEO Luca Zanotti said he sees “the current level of steel quotas as a severe blow to Ukraine and the Ukrainian steel industry, which continues to operate in frontline regions under wartime conditions.” He added that the low allocation “fails to take into account the significant social and economic consequences it will have for thousands of employees, their families, and the communities that depend on Ukraine’s steel industry.”
Number crunching: Moreover, Interpipe, which manufactures railway steel and pipes, claims that the quota for seamless tubes is 30 percent below what it should be because of a “statistical error” in the underlying data from 2022 to 2024. Zanotti said he expects the Commission to correct the allocation by the end of the third quarter.
Crickets: Morning Trade requested a comment from the European Commission on the calculation, but did not receive an answer by publication time.
POLITICO