The recent competitiveness of Russian steelmaker Severstal in the European hot-rolled coil (HRC) import market was abundantly clear in May import statistics.

The company sold 232,419 tonnes of HRC into the EU during the month, amounting to more than 44pc of the EU HRC import market. There were periods a few months back when Severstal was offering €70/t or more below domestic European prices.

Under the revised EU steel safeguard, implemented from 1 July, Russia has a quarterly quota of around 421,690t for July-September and October-December.

After Argus reported in late May that Eurofer was looking to have Severstal’s duty reviewed with a view to increasing it, its offers eventually reduced in volume. Offer prices also rose following the China-led uptrend.

All Russian mills except Severstal are effectively blocked from selling HRC into Europe by import duties, but Severstal’s €17.60/t duty means it can still compete.

Turkish volumes slipped to 103,861t, less than 20pc of the import market, and down by 59pc from 252,503t in the same month of last year. The EU actually shipped more to Turkey, at 110,210t, giving it an HRC net trade surplus for the month.

The European Commission recently opened an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy case against Turkey, with preliminary duties to be implemented in November-December, should dumping be proven. Turkey has threatened to counteract given that EU mills often sell competitively priced material into the country, especially when high-grade demand wobbles and they have to resort to more commodity grade sales.

Overall, EU HRC imports dropped by 31.24pc over the first five months of the year, from 3.75mn t in 2019 t to 2.58mn t.