September 2, 2021 – An agreement in the EU-U.S. steel dispute is expected before the end of the year. Is the U.S. government preparing to negotiate with a proposal already rejected by the EU – a quota solution? Commodity markets for base metals continue to lurk. Aluminum prices continue to rise. Despite traditional EU vacation season, growth in Eurozone industry remains strong. New orders and export demand high.

EU-U.S. steel dispute: Entering negotiations with proposals already rejected?
By Nov. 1, 2021, the United States and the European Union want to reach a solution to their tariff dispute over steel and aluminum imports.
U.S. government prepares quota solution
According to media reports, the U.S. government is considering a quota system while preparing a proposal for the European Union to settle a dispute over steel and aluminum imports from the EU.
What are tariff rate quotas?
Known as tariff quotas, they allow countries to export certain quantities of a product to other countries at lower tariff rates, but impose a higher tariff on all imports of the product that exceed a predetermined threshold.
Problem: EU rejected quota proposal on steel months ago
What is likely to become controversial here is that the European Union rejected a U.S. quota solution months ago. We have more detailed background information here: Settlement of the steel tariff dispute by November 1, 2021?
Despite vacation season: Growth in euro zone industry remains strong
Despite the traditional vacation season, growth in eurozone industry remained strong in August 2021. This is shown by the latest Purchasing Managers Index from IHS Markit.
New orders and export demand high
New orders increased for the 14th consecutive month. Export demand for industrial products, especially from the Netherlands, Germany and Italy, continued to pick up strongly. The build-up of production capacity and the associated increase in demand for labor continue. The PMI values for Greece, Italy and Spain were particularly high.
Strong demand for production materials
Due to the continued strong demand for production materials and goods, delivery times again extended to a considerable extent.
Our tip: Take active care of your procurement. Waiting is still not an option.
Base Metals stable and market still in waiting position
Aluminum futures rose again on Tuesday. Currently, it went up for aluminum on SHFE and LME by over 1%. All other base metal values are still looking for a new direction at the moment, but are tending to the positive throughout.
Source: lme.com, shfe.com.cn
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Disclaimer: Many things here represent our opinion. Others are information from the Internet. We can therefore never claim to be correct or complete. And never base a business decision solely on the news you receive from us.