This Morning in Metals: Turkey launches WTO dispute over E.U.’s steel safeguard

Turkey opens WTO complaint over E.U.’s steel safeguards

In an attempt to curb the flow of cheap steel into the bloc, the E.U. in 2018 imposed provisional steel safeguards, which became permanent last year.
As a result, the E.U. imposed safeguards on 26 steel product categories through July 2021.
Turkey, the top steel exporter to the E.U., has objected to the measures.
“Turkey claims that the EU safeguard measures, in the form of tariff-rate quotas and additional duties, and the investigation that led to their imposition, are inconsistent with a number of provisions of the Agreement on Safeguards and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994,” a WTO release said.

Copper prices plunges

Amid coronavirus-related restrictions on movement and commerce, the price of copper has taken a dive.
The LME three-month copper price closed last week at $4,868/mt, marking a month-over-month decline of 15.63%, according to MetalMiner IndX data.
As of mid-January, the price hovered around $6,300/mt.

Iron ore price also down

Meanwhile, the price for the steelmaking raw material is also down significantly in China.
Improve metal purchase timing and mitigate price risk — trial MetalMiner’s monthly metal buying outlook
Iron ore on the Dalian Commodity Exchange dropped 6% on Monday, Reuters reported.