The EU's temporary steel safeguard expired at end-June 2026 and a permanent TRQ took its place — duty-free volume nearly halved to about 18.35 Mt, the out-of-quota duty doubled to 50%, and a first-ever "melt and pour" origin rule. Using the official allocations, this piece breaks the quota down category by category and country by country: HRC alone claims about 5.2 million tonnes, Türkiye takes the largest share, Taiwan, China is squeezed hardest — and CBAM stacks a second barrier on top.

On July 31, 2026, the European Commission published Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1740, correcting a number of default values, production-route indicators and product-code entries under the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). The corrections apply retroactively from January 1, 2026, meaning affected importers may need to revisit calculations already made for 2026 transactions. For the aluminium sector, the latest correction does not materially change the main country-specific default values for CN 7601 unwrought aluminium. The more significant numerical revisions are instead concentrated in selected downstream aluminium products and precursor values, particularly under CN 7616. For Tunisia, several aluminium entries were corrected following erroneous CN-code assignments in the original regulation. Under the corrected tables, the country-specific base default values for CN 7616 10 00, CN 7616 91 00 and CN 7616 99 90 are 1.440 tCO₂e/t, while CN 7616 99 10 is set at 0.760 tCO₂e/t. These corrected values are substantially lower than the fallback values that would otherwise have applied where no valid Tunisia-specific entry was available. At the same time, the Commission raised two default values used for aluminium precursors where the country of production cannot be determined. The value for CN 7616 99 10 was corrected from 3.080 tCO₂e/t to 4.542 tCO₂e/t, while CN 7616 99 90 increased from 3.770 tCO₂e/t to 5.559 tCO₂e/t. Both revisions represent increases of approximately 47.5%. This means the July correction has different effects depending on the product and the availability of origin information. For certain Tunisian downstream aluminium products, the corrected country-specific values reduce the applicable default emissions intensity. By contrast, where the origin of relevant aluminium precursors cannot be established, the corrected Annex IV values result in a noticeably higher default emissions assumption. The Commission has characterised the latest changes as corrections to transcription mistakes, CN-code mapping issues, missing or inaccurate production-route information and related technical errors, rather than a broader adjustment to the CBAM methodology itself. The underlying framework for applying default values remains unchanged. The annual mark-ups applied to CBAM default values also remain unchanged. Under the current framework, the applicable mark-up is 10% in 2026, 20% in 2027 and 30% from 2028 onward. The correction therefore mainly affects the underlying base values and technical classification of selected entries rather than the broader escalation mechanism. Overall, the July update leaves the main primary aluminium default-value structure largely intact, while revising the treatment of selected fabricated aluminium products and unknown-origin precursors. For companies relying on default values, especially where precursor origin cannot be fully determined, the revised tables may alter the estimated embedded emissions and corresponding CBAM certificate exposure for affected 2026 imports. Given that Regulation (EU) 2026/1740 applies from January 1, 2026, importers and exporters involved in the affected product categories may need to review earlier calculations and ensure that their CBAM reporting uses the corrected values.

In 2026 the EU's CBAM crossed from "report-only" into a phase where importers pay real money. This piece lays out the five newly-landed implementing regulations, the timetable and thresholds, and — using hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil, coated sheet and other flagship traded steels as its sample — draws a cost map from the official country default values. For the same coil of HRC, Indonesia's carbon cost is about 581 EUR/tonne while the USA's is about 15 EUR/tonne: a near-40× gap.

El Salvador has begun implementing its new regulatory framework for renewable energy self-consumption. The General Directorate of Energy, Hydrocarbons, and Mines has launched official procedures for authorizing providers and installing renewable self-consumption systems, initially applying to solar PV systems. The framework implements the Law for the Promotion of Renewable Energy Use, approved in October 2025, together with special regulations published in April 2026. It covers requirements for the import, sale, design, installation, approval, grid connection, operation, maintenance and supervision of renewable self-consumption systems. The rules allow users to inject surplus electricity into the distribution grid and receive compensation, while also extending incentives to storage systems linked to renewable generation. Tax benefits related to income tax, VAT and import tariffs will be available for 10 years.

Recently, Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation disclosed that it is planning to construct a new, modern electric vehicle battery assembly facility. The total investment scale for the project reaches 7 billion Philippine pesos, all of which will be incorporated into the Philippines' new Electric Vehicle Incentive Strategy (EVIS) support framework. The chairman of Mitsubishi Motors Philippines clearly stated that this planned project focuses on the localized assembly of batteries for hybrid models, with no plans to include battery research and development at this stage. The primary bottleneck currently hindering project progress is the pending official release of the detailed implementing rules for the EVIS policy. At the technology and industry chain planning level, Mitsubishi aims to position this Philippines battery factory as a benchmark production line in Southeast Asia, with technical standards aligned with its existing production bases in Thailand and Indonesia, and overall competitiveness benchmarked against its domestic factories in Japan. At the same time, the company will progressively advance localization support and has already initiated cooperation discussions with several local Philippine automotive parts companies to build a local supply chain system.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto announced on August 14, in his address to parliament on the 2027 draft state budget, that Indonesia will launch a Strategic Minerals and Commodities Exchange (Bursa Mineral dan Komoditas Strategis) on January 1, 2027, under the supervision of financial regulator OJK. He framed it as the next stage of the single-window export policy, arguing prices for Indonesian palm oil, nickel, tin, coal and gold have long been set on overseas exchanges using benchmarks Indonesia did not create. The stated aim is to build an Indonesia Reference Price for major export commodities and a deeper, more transparent market with less room for manipulation. He asked parliament to pass the enabling rules quickly. SMM notes implementing rules and scope are not yet defined.

Tariffs, certification regimes and quotas, not demand, have redrawn Indonesia's 4.7 million-mt export map since 2021: China's share has halved, India has quadrupled, and Europe's door has narrowed to a slab-shaped hole.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has reaffirmed that it will begin enforcing the local equity participation requirements under its 2018 Mining Code from 31 July, despite concerns raised by several international mining companies. Under the legislation, mining companies are required to transfer 10% of their equity to Congolese nationals, including 5% allocated to employees. As the implementing regulations have remained unclear for several years, no mining company has yet complied with the requirement. In January, the DRC government instructed mining companies, including Glencore, Ivanhoe Mines, CMOC and Huayou Cobalt, to demonstrate compliance by the end of July or face sanctions, although the specific penalties for non-compliance have not yet been disclosed. Following a meeting with mining companies on 22 July, the DRC Ministry of Mines reiterated the 31 July compliance deadline and announced that the implementation decree would be signed after a limited number of technical amendments. An ad hoc committee has also been established to finalise the revisions. To help employees acquire their required equity stakes, the government is considering measures such as interest-free loans and support through cooperatives. Amid rising commodity prices, resource-rich African countries, including the DRC, have increasingly sought to secure a larger share of the value generated from their mineral resources. Under the 2018 Mining Code, the DRC government is already entitled to a 10% free, non-dilutable interest in mining projects and may further increase its ownership through paid acquisitions upon the renewal of mining licences.

[Plate/HRC]HRC export down USD 2-3 d/d to 486-491; mills hold offers, trade muted HRC and other flat-product export prices fell USD 2-3/tonne day on day, with HRC export deals in the 486-491 USD/tonne range. Some mills kept relatively high offers, but overseas inquiries and actual deals were mediocre and the market stayed largely wait-and-see. [Billet]Export billet FOB weak-stable at 458-460 ex-Jiangyin; fierce competition, some deals below 455 Export billet FOB was weak-stable, quoted at 458-460 USD/tonne ex-Jiangyin. Competition was fierce, with export billet orders aggressively bid down and final deal prices pressed lower — some traders concluded FOB below 455 USD/tonne, and several East-China mills stopped taking orders at such low levels; overall trade was mediocre. [Rebar]Rebar export down USD 1 to 479-484 ex-Tianjin; buyers press, trade weak Tianjin rebar export prices edged down USD 1/tonne day on day to 479-484 USD/tonne. Downstream sentiment was wait-and-see with buyers pressing on price and sellers reluctant to sell low; deal intent was subdued and volumes stayed weak. [Turkey]Turkey HRC domestic breaks below 600, export eases to 580 FOB as EU route stalls Turkish HRC domestic prices slid faster this week, with mainstream ex-works breaking below USD 600 — down 10 to 590 USD/tonne EXW — while export offers eased 5 to 580 USD/tonne FOB. With the EU route blocked, cargoes flowed back into the domestic market, intensifying competition; mainstream mills have booked September orders and some can offer late-August spot. Quarter-to-date EU clearance topped 370kt, far above the 160kt quarterly quota; a recent deal to Greece (October shipment) was concluded at 580-585 USD/tonne FOB. [EU]EU safeguard tightens: over-quota tariff to 50%, in-transit cargoes diverted Since the EU's new steel safeguard took effect on 1 July — sharply cutting the tariff-free quota and lifting the over-quota tariff to 50% — with the implementing rules published only on 30 June, numerous in-transit orders have been forced to divert: part of the Indonesian and Thai HRC cargoes were re-routed to North Africa (the rest cancelled or renegotiated), while Brazilian CRC cargoes were diverted to the UK. The higher quota wall is reshaping import flows into the EU. [Southeast Asia]SE-Asia HRC import eases to 523 CFR; Indonesia steady, Vietnam standoff Southeast Asia HRC import offers eased to 523 USD/tonne CFR this week. Indonesia's offers to Vietnam held steady at 520-525 USD/tonne CFR, but Vietnamese buyers' target prices were low, leaving a wide bid-offer gap and a standoff. On the export side, a mainstream Vietnamese mill last week shipped HRC to Korea at 545-550 USD/tonne CFR. [India]India HRC CFR-Europe down 10 to 640; mills rush EU quota, FOB 560-570 India's HRC CFR-Europe assessment fell 10 to 640 USD/tonne this week, with FOB at 560-570 USD/tonne. Nominal CFR was quoted 650-660, but bulk deals were discounted to 635-640 (small lots above 650). EU customers booked about 100kt over the past two weeks, prompting mills to rush shipments; under 50kt of the EU's 149,319-tonne HRC quota remains uncleared, with dispatch concentrated in July-August; Middle East trade was disrupted by shipping and port congestion.

[Three Departments: Adjusting Preferential Vehicle and Vessel Tax Policies for Energy-saving Vehicles and NEVs] In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Vehicle and Vessel Tax and its implementing regulations, the matters concerning the adjustment of preferential vehicle and vessel tax policies for energy-saving vehicles and NEVs are hereby announced as follows: From January 1, 2027, the policy of halving vehicle and vessel tax on energy-saving vehicles shall be abolished, and the policy of exempting vehicle and vessel tax on pure electric commercial vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (including extended-range), and fuel cell commercial vehicles shall be abolished; the above-mentioned types of vehicles newly acquired by taxpayers or already acquired before the implementation of this announcement shall be subject to vehicle and vessel tax in accordance with the Law of the People's Republic of China on Vehicle and Vessel Tax, its implementing regulations, and other relevant provisions. This announcement shall take effect from January 1, 2027.