Ukraine should be exempt from steel quotas under new EU measures – Interpipe CEO

Ukraine should be exempt from steel quotas under the EU’s new trade measures for these products, CEO of Ukrainian industrial company Interpipe Luca Zanotti said in an interview with Politico.

At the same time, Zanotti stressed that the EU’s three main institutions agreed that Ukraine is a special case entitled to trade preferences following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

"There is specific language on Ukraine facing ‘an exceptional and immediate security situation’ and that results in a special status," he said.

The publication said that the EU plans to double steel tariffs from July 1 of this year to 50%. At the same time, the quota allowing certain volumes to be imported duty-free will be cut nearly in half. Ukraine is heavily dependent on the EU as an export market.

According to the publication, Interpipe manufactures steel pipes used in the oil and gas industry, mining equipment, construction, and cranes. The company also produces railway wheels and smaller steel products. In 2012, the group began using an electric arc furnace, significantly lowering its emissions compared with steelmakers operating on coal or gas. Steel scrap is the main input material for electric furnaces.

"Within Europe, there are forces that have a strong political view to twist the spirit and the wording" of laws concerning Ukraine, Zanotti said. If the EU were to impose quotas on Ukraine – where production is down 80 percent relative to pre-2022 figures – he said it would be "a very difficult setback."

Interpipe is a Ukrainian industrial company producing steel pipes and railway products. Its products are supplied to more than 50 countries through a network of sales offices located in key markets in the Middle East, North America, and Europe.

The company’s structure includes six industrial assets: Interpipe Nyzhniodniprovsky Tube Rolling Plant (NTRP), Interpipe Novomoskovsk Pipe Plant (NMPP), Interpipe Niko Tube, Dnipropetrovsk Vtormet, the Dniprosteel electric steelmaking complex under the Interpipe Steel brand, and the Interpipe Roman pipe plant in Romania.

The company employs about 9,500 people.

The ultimate owner of Interpipe Limited is Ukrainian businessman and philanthropist Victor Pinchuk and members of his family.