European Union monitoring aluminium imports following US tariffs

The European Union official journal reported on Thursday that EU has started monitoring imports of aluminium to determine whether the imported aluminium and steel tariffs imposed by the US have triggered a surge in metal shipments into the Europe or not.

The European Union collects data on the quantity and value of incoming aluminium products in order to analyse if measures are needed to be taken to limit imports. The surveillance will apply to imports of aluminium exceeding 2.5 tonnes.

The European Commission, which overseas trade policy in the 28-nation EU, believes that the 10 per cent tariff levied by the US on aluminium would increase the risk of more aluminium being diverted to Europe at depressed prices.

According to the EU official journal data, the aluminium product imports have increased by 23 per cent between 2013 and 2017, while prices of such imports have plunged by 5 per cent.

Added to this the journal reported, with most of the new capacity in China, significant oversupply has built up since the early 2000s. Although China exports a marginal amount of primary aluminium, yet it has led to depressed prices of the globally traded commodity.

The journal recently unveiled that out of 26 smelters in 2008, only 16 are in operation at the present, and a number are at risk of closure.