The UK Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has announced that it has decided to extend the safeguard measures on 15 categories of steel products for a further two years until June 30, 2026. The decisions will come into effect from July 1,2024.

Following an extension review initiated in September last year, the UK’s Trade Remedies Authority proposed to extend the safeguard measures on 15 categories of steel products for a further two years to protect the country’s steel industry from surges in imports.

The products subject to the extension included HRC, CRC, metallic coated sheet, organic coated sheet, tin mill products, quarto plates, merchant bars and light sections, rebar, wire rod, angles, sections, railway material, gas pipes, hollow sections and large welded tubes.

The UK -based trade association UK Steel has stated that the decision to extend safeguard measures is vital to the UK steel industry at a time of rising global steelmaking overcapacity and trade deflection from other protected markets. “However, the trade remedy tool can only be applied until June 2026 according to World Trade Organization rules. With global steelmaking capacity only on the rise, the problems faced by the UK steel sector will not go away any time soon,” the association noted.

In addition, the DBT also decided to extend the duty suspension for Ukrainian steel to June 30, 2026.

This decision ensures imports of Ukrainian steel will not be subject to the additional safeguard quotas and duty.