Indian steelmakers and European traders joined MEPS experts on a new webinar to reveal how the steel supply chain will adapt to stringent European import quotas, 50% tariffs and CBAM.
Hosted in partnership with BigMint, the “What Lies Ahead for Exports?” webinar is now available to watch on demand and features insight from representatives of JSW Steel, Tata Steel India, AMNS India, Trasteel and Comet Trading. Meanwhile, MEPS steel market analysts Jon Carruthers-Green and Benedicte Mikolajczak draw on analysis of the new measures in the EU and UK, along with MEPS’s research among steel market participants, to provide a thorough overview of Europe’s new trading environment.
Mikolajczak said that the EU’s new Steel Regulation would “completely change trade flows”. She said: “European importers have been really dismayed by the reductions to some quotas (from July 1), particularly with trading partners like Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Turkey. They fear that some origins will be effectively cancelled, but India really hasn’t fared that badly.” She added: “There is definitely a willingness to keep trading with India and windows of opportunity to do so.”
BigMint webinar co-moderator Nabeera Sheikh highlighted that Indian steel exports increased by around 2% to approximately 7.6m tonnes in 2025. The EU was the country’s main overseas market, accounting for around 39% of total steel exports. However, under the EU’s new tariff-rate quota (TRQ) regime, importers’ tariff-free access to Indian steel has been reduced by around 30%. The TRQs for hot and cold rolled coils and sheet have been reduced by 34% (to 597,274 tonnes) and 59% (to 269,974 tonnes), respectively. Sheikh told the webinar that, by contrast, the UK presents a “major opportunity” for Indian steel exporters following its implementation of new TRQs on July 1. The UK imported 0.62m tonnes of Indian steel in 2025. However, the new quotas allow 1.1m tonnes of tariff-free access, she said.
Indian steel producers’ “strategic” approach
Asked about the significance of the new EU trade defence measures to JSW Steel, the steelmaker’s associate vice president of international sales, Akshat Dave, said that the Indian quotas would now have to be “strategically managed” to minimise exposure to above-quota duties. Detailing JSW’s strategy to mitigate the effects of new TRQs, he added: “We have a very important priority to move up the value chain. So, we have to look at expanding the share of specialised and customer-specific solutions which can command higher margins, and which are less vulnerable to trade restrictions.” ##Dave also highlighted an opportunity for Indian exporters to shift towards increased exports of semi-finished steel products, which are not covered by the TRQs.
Tata Steel India’s head of exports Dipan Sen said that his business was 90-95% focussed on the domestic market. However, he said that Tata Steel UK was utilising large volumes of imported slab after shutting down its blast furnaces as part of its transition towards EAF-steelmaking at Port Talbot, South Wales. ##AMNS India deputy general manager international sales Abhishek Bhadauria said that India’s own transition to low-emissions steelmaking may be dictated by domestic policy, rather than a push to meet the demands of the EU CBAM.
Sharing the view of importers into the EU, Trasteel’s Lauro Castelo told the MEPS/BigMint webinar that buying activity has changed in the past 12 months, with buyers already switching to local producers. Commenting on the trend, which has been detailed in MEPS’s European Steel Report, Castelo said: “We believe that European mills will achieve a strong order book on the back of that.”
Meanwhile, Comet Trading’s Laurent Taylor said that EU imports would continue to provide leverage in domestic steel price negotiations. He said: “You shouldn’t see imports as a replacement for domestic production. See them as a negotiation tool. Some imports, even 10% or 20% [of a business’s procurement mix], provide some leverage to not be wholly dependent on the European mills.” However, Taylor said that the EU import environment was currently dominated by uncertainty. He said: “Buyers are hesitant. Nobody knows how to manage purchasing right now. There is a lot of risk, either on the trader or the buyer, and the main question is ‘how do you determine the price of the material?’”
The “What Lies Ahead for Exports?” webinar is available to watch now, on demand, via YouTube.
Source: MEPS
