The EU’s recently announced temporary quotas and tariffs on steel imports, arising from the Commission’s safeguarding investigation, might have been expected to push prices of stainless steel upward, in the European market. However, some buyers have chosen to expand their placement of import orders, in the short term, to maximise their own intake of low priced material, before quotas are exhausted. This has the effect of reducing demand for locally produced material and, thereby, places downward pressure on prices.

This should be short-lived. Many stainless steel buyers are wary that, given the long delivery lead times on orders from, for example, the Far East, material ordered now could arrive in Europe after the appropriate quota has been filled and, therefore, incur tariff charges. Consequently, they are more likely to source their requirements from European mills – in turn, applying inflationary pressure, in the regional market.