20 January 2026 – EU stainless steel mills significantly increased their imports of stainless steel slabs in 2025. One country of origin in particular stands out with an increase of more than 350%, casting a harsh spotlight on the European Commission’s failed market protection policy. New study: tariffs almost exclusively burden consumers in the countries imposing them.
Study: Tariffs Are Almost Entirely Borne by Consumers
A recently published study by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy on the effects of tariffs paints a clear picture: the costs are not borne by suppliers or producers in the countries subject to tariffs. Instead, 96% of tariff costs are absorbed by companies and consumers in the tariff-imposing countries.
In effect, tariffs function like a consumption tax on imported goods.
Cost pass-through and reduced variety and availability
According to the study, customs duties lead to a decline in import volumes, but also to reduced variety and availability of goods on domestic markets. In addition, prices for imported goods and domestically manufactured products rise due to higher costs for raw materials. Customs costs are passed on to end consumers almost one-to-one, as reflected in corresponding price increases in the affected markets.
The full study by the Kiel Institute is available here.
Stainless Steel Slabs: Dramatic Increase in EU Imports
Stainless steel manufacturers in the European Union are notorious for their demands for increasingly restrictive market protection policies. Even small quantities of stainless steel from individual, undesirable sources have been subject to applications for new trade defence measures in recent years.
Double Standards in EU Trade Defence Measures
At the same time, European producers themselves are among the largest single importers of stainless steel into the EU. Even before the final EUROSTAT figures for 2025 are published, a new import record is already emerging – an outcome that once again makes the market protection demands of EU stainless steel mills appear excessive, questionable, and hypocritical.
Increase of More Than 350% in Stainless Steel Slabs from Indonesia
As EUROSTAT data on imports of stainless steel semi-finished products such as slabs indicate, manufacturers are expected to have increased their imports by more than 36% compared with 2024.
From Indonesia alone, between 250,000 and 300,000 tonnes of stainless steel slabs were imported – an increase of more than 350% year-on-year. The vast majority of these volumes were shipped to Italy.
Overall, domestic producers accounted for more than 23% of the total stainless steel market through imports of slabs.
The European Commission’s Blind Spot on Slabs
For years, anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures with high punitive duties have been in place against hot-rolled and cold-rolled stainless steel from Indonesia. In recent years, these measures have been extended to additional countries through anti-circumvention actions.
However, the import volumes complained about at the time were not even half of the quantities that European stainless steel mills imported from Indonesia in 2025 alone.
By contrast, no European trade defence measure exists for stainless steel slabs – a semi-finished product that can be used almost exclusively by the producers themselves. This casts a stark light on the role of the European Commission.
The outcome is a textbook example of a failed tariff and market protection policy, as well as of flawed EU anti-dumping and anti-subsidy regulation design – ultimately to the benefit of a small number of large, politically influential corporations.
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