Voestalpine receives exceptions from US punitive tariffs

Success for Austrian steel group

Austrian steel group Voestalpine has achieved a partial success in the fight against the US punitive tariffs imposed on steel products. The Linz-based company has already filed 4,300 applications in the USA for exceptions from the penalty duties.

With success, because of the 2,640 responses from the US administration, the exception was approved in 2,360 cases. Only 280 applications were rejected.

For the steel giant, the economic risk is significantly reduced by the import charges introduced in the summer of 2018. Only around three percent of total Group sales are affected by the US customs duties. This was announced by the company.

Group CEO Wolfgang Eder was relieved: “In consideration of this interim result, we are optimistic that we will also receive predominantly positive feedback for the applications that are still pending.” He also regards the trade agreements between the USA, Mexico and Canada as positive.

Voestalpine has 48 locations in the USA

With almost 50 locations in the United States, the steel producer contributes to regional value creation. Alone in recent years, the group had invested around 1.4 billion US dollars to promote the production of high-tech products. This created 3,000 additional jobs. According to the company, Voestalpine generates about two thirds of the US sales of approximately 1.3 billion euros as a local producer in the USA.

The impact of the punitive tariffs introduced in June on steel imports from the EU has so far had little effect on Voestalpine. According to the company, the burden was in the single-digit million euro range.