"Melt and pour": evidence requirement in force since 1 October 2026
Since 1 October 2026, every importer of the 26 steel categories must be able to evidence the country of melt and pour — where the steel was first produced in liquid form and cast into its first solid state — not just where it was last processed. In practice that means a mill test certificate traceable to the melting mill, stating the melt country and the heat number.
What the implementing act requires, the full timeline, and what to ask your supplier
The evidence is now settled. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1963 of 28 August 2026 — published in the Official Journal on 31 August 2026 — requires a mill test certificate stating both the country of melt and pour and the heat number. Where the certificate is missing one of those, customs may accept invoices, delivery notes, quality certificates or clauses in purchase orders and contracts, long-term supplier declarations, cost-accounting and production documents, export-country customs documents, commercial correspondence or production descriptions to fill the gap. Until 30 September 2027 those same documents can stand alone where there is no mill test certificate at all; from 1 October 2027 the certificate itself is mandatory. The melt country is declared by TARIC document code, and an import without acceptable evidence is refused at the border.
- 25 Jun 2026Regulation (EU) 2026/1384 enters into force
- 1 Jul 2026New quotas open; 50% out-of-quota duty applies
- 31 Aug 2026Implementing act (EU) 2026/1963 on melt-and-pour evidence published
- 1 Oct 2026Importers must supply melt-and-pour evidence
- 1 Oct 2027Melt-and-pour data starts informing country quota distribution
- 1 Oct 2027Mill test certificate becomes mandatory; other documents only fill gaps in it
- 30 Jun 2028Commission reviews whether it becomes the basis for quota access
What to ask your supplier:
- Can they name the melting mill and its country for every item you buy — not the rolling or coating mill?
- Will the mill test certificate travel with the shipment, and does it state the melt country and the heat number explicitly?
- For material bought through a trader or stockholder, can that certificate still be traced back to the original heat?
- Where the melt country differs from the customs origin, do you know both — because you now have to declare both.
The gap to watch is re-rolled material: steel melted in one country, rolled or coated in another. Its non-preferential origin — and therefore its quota line on this page — may sit in a different country from its melt and pour.
Why do some categories show several lines — even two for the same country?
The EU allocates each category's tonnage in tiers, and every line below is a separate quota with its own order number:
- Country quota — tonnage reserved for one country with a large historical share (e.g. Turkey, Egypt, the United Kingdom).
- FTA-pool share (reserved) — on top of its country quota, an FTA partner can get a ring-fenced share of the residual quota too. That's why the UK appears twice in some categories: its own quota, plus its reserved slice of the pool.
- FTA pool (shared) — residual tonnage shared between the listed FTA quota-holders, first come, first served.
- Pool for any FTA origin — a residual pool any of the EU's free-trade-agreement partners can draw from.
- Open to all origins — the final pool, available to every country including non-FTA origins.
So two lines that both look like "other countries" are really two different doors: one for FTA partners, one for everyone. Which line applies to a shipment is decided at customs clearance by origin and the quota order number (#09.xxxx shown on each line).
Loading EU quota balances…
Steel grade directory — which EU import quota does your grade fall under?
Engineers buy EN3B, EN19 or 304 stainless — not "category 12". This directory maps the grades used in workshops to the EU quota category they are imported under from 1 July 2026, by product form. The EU measure is broader than the UK's — it also covers cold-rolled sheet, electrical sheet, stainless flat products, sheet piling and seamless tubes. Click any grade to check its balances above. Classification always depends on the exact CN/TARIC code — confirm with your supplier or customs agent.
Carbon & alloy bar grades
Stainless steels
Structural, plate & sheet
Tubes, sections, rod & rebar
Not covered — no quota risk
Where the EU's steel imports come from
Import volumes into the EU-27 per quota category from Eurostat's Comext customs statistics, to Aug 26 (Eurostat publishes with a ~2-month lag). Navy line: monthly tonnage from all non-EU origins. Orange: 3-month weighted average, recent months weighted 3:2:1. Together with the daily balances above, this shows who supplies the EU — and what happens when their quota runs out.
Hot-rolled sheets & strips
Metallic coated sheets
Cold-rolled sheets
Wire rod
Quarto plates
Merchant bars & light sections
Rebars
Organic coated sheets
Show all 29 charts
Hollow sections
Tin mill products
Non-alloy wire
Stainless cold-rolled sheets
Other seamless tubes
Gas pipes
Electrical sheets (3B codes)
Other welded pipes
Angles & sections
Stainless bars
Stainless hot-rolled sheets
Large welded tubes (2)
Large welded tubes (1)
Cold finished bars
Seamless stainless tubes
Stainless wire rod
Sheet piling
Railway material
Stainless quarto plates
Hot-rolled sheets & strips (1B)
Electrical sheets (non-GOES)
Source: Eurostat Comext (EU trade by CN8 commodity code, dataset DS-045409), refreshed monthly. Figures are code-level: engineering grades (EN24, S355…) share commodity codes with other grades of the same form. Import volume ≠ quota usage — quotas meter tariff-free entry, imports above quota still flow at the 50% tariff.
Common questions
What happens when an EU steel import quota is exhausted?
Under Regulation (EU) 2026/1384, in force since 1 July 2026, imports above the tariff-rate quota pay a 50% duty on the value of the goods. Quotas are allocated quarterly on a first-come, first-served basis; once a line is exhausted, further imports from that origin pay the tariff until the next quarterly allocation. Exhaustion is not always final, though: customs authorities occasionally cancel earlier allocations for technical or regulatory reasons and return the tonnage to the quota — on 11 September 2026 roughly 8,100 tonnes flowed back into 36 previously exhausted lines. This tracker picks up such re-openings automatically through its daily refresh.
How often is the quota data on this tracker updated?
Balances are refreshed daily from the EU's official TARIC/QUOTA data distribution (published each working-day evening), cross-checked weekly against DG TAXUD's consolidated quota usage reports. EU balances exclude pending allocation requests and run roughly two working days behind customs reality.
Why does one steel category have several quota lines, sometimes two for the same country?
The EU allocates each category in tiers: country-specific quotas for origins with a large historical share, then a residual quota split into a shared pool for FTA quota-holders, a pool for any FTA partner, and a final pool open to all origins. An FTA partner such as the United Kingdom can therefore appear twice — once for its own country quota and once for its ring-fenced share of the residual FTA pool. Each line is a separate quota identified by its order number (09.xxxx), which determines eligibility at customs clearance.
Does the United Kingdom have its own EU steel quotas?
Yes. The UK is treated as an FTA partner and holds country-specific quotas in most categories, plus access to shared FTA pools. UK exporters shipping steel into the EU should watch the specific quota lines for their product category — this tracker has a one-click filter for UK-relevant lines.
What is the EU "melt and pour" requirement and when does it start?
From 1 October 2026, Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) 2026/1384 requires importers of the 26 steel categories to evidence the country of melt and pour — where the steel was first produced in liquid form and cast into its first solid state — typically via a mill test certificate traceable to the melting mill. It is a traceability requirement only: quota eligibility continues to be determined by non-preferential origin, not by melt and pour. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1963, published in the Official Journal on 31 August 2026, settles the documentation: a mill test certificate giving the country of melt and pour and the heat number, with a defined list of commercial documents accepted alongside it — or, only until 30 September 2027, in place of it. Melt-and-pour data begins informing country quota distribution from 1 October 2027, and by 30 June 2028 the Commission must assess whether it should become the primary basis for quota access.
Does melt and pour change which steel quota my shipment uses?
Not before October 2027. From 1 October 2026 the country of melt and pour must be evidenced at import, but the quota line a shipment draws on is still decided by its non-preferential origin and the quota order number (09.xxxx) at customs clearance. The two can differ — steel melted in one country and re-rolled or coated in another takes its non-preferential origin from the processing, while its melt and pour stays with the original melting mill. From 1 October 2027 the Commission begins using melt-and-pour data to set country allocations.
Which steel products are covered by the EU measure?
26 categories of steel goods — broader than the UK's measure. As well as hot-rolled flat, coated sheet, bars, rod, sections and welded tube, the EU regime also covers cold-rolled sheet, electrical sheet, stainless flat products, sheet piling and seamless tubes. Aluminium, brass, titanium, nickel alloys and cast iron are not covered.
What happens to unused EU steel quota at the end of a quarter?
During the first year of the measure it carries over. Under Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2026/1384, drawing on a quarterly quota stops on the 20th Commission working day after the quarter ends, and from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027 the unused volume is carried over to the next quarter of the same yearly period: for the July to September 2026 quarter that cut-off is 28 October 2026. Nothing carries over from the April to June quarter into the next quota year. Until a carry-over is added, this tracker shows the tonnage waiting on each quota line, updated daily, and marks exhausted lines that are due to reopen.
Will unused EU steel quota still carry over after June 2027?
Not automatically. The guaranteed carry-over ends on 30 June 2027. From 1 July 2027 the Commission decides by implementing act, for each product category, whether unused quarterly volumes carry over, weighing import pressure concentrated in a quarter, average quota use over the first three quarters of the year (in particular where it is above 80%) and the availability of supply for downstream steel users. This tracker will show the outcome per category once those acts are published.
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