Thai steel exporters are set to gain after the country won an exemption from the European Commission from its provisional safeguard measures on the import of steel products.
Adul Chotinisakorn, director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, said Thailand was among a number of developing countries and countries of the European Economic Area (Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) that were exempted from the EU's provisional safeguard measures given their limited exports.
The European Union (EU) announced last Wednesday provisional safeguard measures concerning imports of a number of steel products to address the alleged "diversion" of steel exports to the EU market as a result of recently imposed US tariffs.
The commission said the 25% tariffs would be applied to 23 categories of steel products in the form of a "tariff rate quota".
The safeguard measures will come into effect on July 19, and traditional imports of steel products will not be affected.
The provisional safeguard measures can remain in place for a maximum of 200 days. The commission will continue to monitor steel imports and make a final decision early next year at the latest.
The measures are part of the three-pronged response outlined by the European Commission earlier this year. As a result of the import duties applied by the US as of March 23 under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act of 1962, exporting steel to the US has become less attractive.
The commission said there are indications that steel suppliers have diverted some of their exports from the US to the EU.
On March 26, the European Commission opened a safeguard investigation on imports of a number of steel products into the EU, in response to recent US metal tariff plans.
Steel imports from Thailand account for 3% of overall EU imports at most, Mr Adul said.
But he warned that Thai exporters should take caution on shipments bound for the EU market, as the EU's import information has shown that stainless cold-rolled sheet and strip and non-alloyed wire shipped from Thailand are relatively high.
Korakod Padungjitt, secretary-general of the Thailand Iron and Steel Industry Club under the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), said the steel industry is not overly concerned about Thai exports to European countries given the relatively small quantities.
Thailand, on average, exports 2 million tonnes of steel products.
Shipments to European countries average 60,000 tonnes a year, contributing only 3% of total steel exports.
Thailand, meanwhile, exports 400,000 tonnes of steel products a year to the US market.
Other key markets are Asean, China, Japan and India.
"Thailand's steel exports to the EU are relatively low compared with shipments to other countries like China, Russia and South Korea," Mr Korakod said. "Nonetheless, the exemption will be good for Thai steel exports."