Steel industry welcomes EU tariff quota outcome, thanks government for 'minimizing losses'

South Korea's steel industry said Tuesday that negotiations over the EU's tariff-rate quota system had "defended Korea's duty-free quota at a satisfactory level."

The Korea Iron & Steel Association said in a statement that the EU is one of the steel sector's key export markets and that the way the EU operates its tariff-rate quota directly affects domestic steelmakers' export stability and their production and sales planning. "The outcome of these negotiations is assessed to have minimized the reduction in Korea's quota and secured a duty-free volume that compares favorably with major competing countries," the association said.

It added that it was "sincerely grateful for the efforts of government authorities, who mobilized every available channel — including summit diplomacy — to defend the foundation for Korean steel exports to the EU as much as possible, even as the EU's overall duty-free import quota was cut by nearly half."

The association credited top-level summit diplomacy as the decisive factor behind the negotiating outcome. At the summit, the president emphasized that Korea is a strategic partner with which the EU has concluded a free trade agreement, and explained that the EU's tariff-rate quota measures could affect not only the steel industry but also bilateral industrial cooperation, supply chain stability, and investment and employment. The association said that message proved pivotal to the negotiations.

"Through these negotiations, we have been able to maintain existing business relationships in the EU market and secure a predictable export base even amid a rapidly changing trade environment," the association said.

The industry plans to review its export strategy by product category and develop ways to make fuller use of the secured quota in order to translate it into actual export results. It also said it would strengthen fair export practices and transaction transparency to sustain stable exports to the EU market.

The association also said it would expand cooperation with downstream industries — including automotive, shipbuilding and defense — to generate domestic demand in response to external uncertainties such as global oversupply and the spread of protectionism, and called on the government to continue providing support for those efforts.

The Korea International Trade Association also welcomed the government's negotiating outcome on Tuesday. Jang Sang-sik, head of the association's Institute for International Trade, said the result "will contribute greatly to maintaining the competitiveness of Korean steel companies in the EU market and enabling locally operating firms to procure steel on a stable basis."

Jang added that the association "highly commends the government for faithfully reflecting the industry's position and delivering a meaningful outcome through summits and negotiations under difficult circumstances," and urged the government to "continue to take the lead in protecting the rights and interests of Korean companies amid an increasingly challenging external trade environment."