Lee Gyu-lee is a business writer at The Korea Times, focusing primarily on IT & telecommunications, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA. Prior to this, she has covered a wide range of cultural news, from film, television and K-pop to lifestyle and fashion.
Korea secures 2.07 mil. ton dedicated EU steel quota under new TRQ
Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo speaks during a media briefing at Sejong Government Complex, Tuesday. Courtesy of Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources
By Lee Gyu-lee
Korea has secured a dedicated 2.073 million metric ton duty-free steel quota under the European Union's new tariff-rate quota (TRQ), cushioning the impact of the bloc's tighter import restrictions that take effect Wednesday.
On Tuesday (local time), the EU announced the operational framework of its new steel import measures, which will replace existing safeguard measures, along with country-specific quota allocations.
Under the new measures, the EU has raised tariffs on out-of-quota imports to 50 percent from 25 percent across 30 steel product categories, while cutting total duty-free import volumes to 18.35 million tons from the previous 33.82 million tons annually, which is about a 46 percent reduction.
The new structure differentiates quotas by product and trade status, creating separate allocations for WTO country quotas, FTA country quotas and FTA-only shared quotas, effectively providing additional duty-free access to countries with EU free trade agreements, including Korea.
The trade ministry announced that Korea’s total dedicated quota was cut 19.7 percent from 2.581 million tons allocated over the past year, which the ministry noted is a smaller decline than the overall reduction.
Steel products are stacked at POSCO Gwangyang steelworks' shipping yard in South Jeolla Province. Yonhap
In particular, for 14 steel products where the country had at least a 5 percent share of EU imports on average between 2022 and 2024, it received a dedicated quota of 2.057 million tons and access to at least 908,000 tons of shared FTA quotas, which are allocated on a first‑come, first‑served basis among EU FTA partners.
For the remaining 16 lower-share categories, the country obtained 16,000 tons in dedicated quotas and at least 567,000 tons in shared quotas.
Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo said the government had set a clear goal of securing as much Korea-only quota as possible and pushed that line hard throughout the talks, as Europe is the second-biggest market for the domestic steel industry.
“Korea and the EU have had an FTA in place for 15 years, and Korean steel is not exported to the EU to undermine its industrial base, but as input material for Korean-built auto and battery plants in Europe, making the two sides’ manufacturing supply chains closely intertwined,” he said.
“We were able to strongly make the case at the summit level that Korean steel contributes to the EU’s industrial supply chains and to local investment and employment, and that Korea, as the EU’s FTA partner and strategic cooperation country, deserves fair treatment.”
The minister framed the EU’s move as part of a broader global shift toward securitized trade in steel, noting the government would continue to respond firmly to rising protectionism.
“Given that global steel overcapacity and the trend of major countries tightening import restrictions are likely to persist for a considerable period, the government will continue to take proactive trade measures with the national interest as its top priority,” he said.