The surplus international capacity for finished steel products has put the future of the Australian fabricated steel market under threat, with very low-cost fabricated steelwork surging into Australia, the Australian Steel Institute (ASI) has told the opening day (May 13) of the Productivity Commission (PC) Safeguard hearing into imported fabricated structural steel (FSS).
An immediate provisional emergency Safeguard measure in the form of a tariff rate quota (TRQ) on fabricated steelwork is essential to save the local industry, the ASI argued.
The Australian fabricated structural steel industry, which comprises some 350 ASI fabricator members and employs more than 20,000 people, has seen imports of FSS into Australia surge significantly between 2022-2024. Key international jurisdictions including the US, EU, and Canada have already acted to impose trade protections to protect their local steel industries from the surge, but Australia remains exposed.
"We do not believe that simply characterising this situation as 'temporary albeit challenging economic headwinds' moment is fair or reasonable." ASI chief executive Mark Cain told this morning's 10am PC hearing in Melbourne.
In a Safeguard application, the ASI has asked the PC to approve both provisional and substantive time-limited measures in the form of a 50% tariff rate quota (TRQ) set at pre-surge import levels to stem the injury and allow the Australian FSS industry time to adjust. Delays in imposing the provisional measure will cause irreparable harm to the Australian FSS industry, the ASI submission argues.
Once lost, domestic capacity will not be easily recovered, the ASI submission says. "Fabricated structural steel is not a commodity manufacturing process; it is a highly skilled, bespoke industry requiring engineering capabilities and significant capital investment. Business closure will result in a loss of this capability and capacity, which cannot be quickly reconstituted in the case of supply chain disruptions / further crises," the submission says.
The ASI's November 2025 submission argued that the Australian FSS industry provides critical sovereign capacity, enhances supply chain resilience for Australian infrastructure and construction pipelines, and supports critical industries such as defence, agriculture, mining, energy and transport through labour market development.
The ASI has undertaken a series of additional economic modelling on public interest, and on the impacts of a TRQ as flagged in their November 2025 submission. This additional modelling will be made available to the PC and published in the public domain. "Imposition of a safeguard measure is firmly in the public interest," Cain said.
Excess international capacity, collapse of domestic demand in some countries, and subsequent global redirection of trade flows following safeguard and anti-dumping measures imposed by the key trading partners, including the United States, European Union and Canada, has placed Australia at risk, he said.
The result has been a surge of subsided imported FSS, causing serious injury to the Australian domestic industry, across all material indicators.
"It is simply unacceptable in our view to allow this to continue given the impacts on our market from this overcapacity that is funded by subsidy and driven by price undercutting," Cain added.
Without a tariff and quota, Australia will continue to bear the brunt of redirected trade flows from excess supply, with OECD analysis indicating subsidy-fuelled production shows no sign of moderating, despite sluggish domestic demand.
"The preliminary evidence clearly supports a finding that increased imports of fabricated structural steel have caused and are threatening to cause serious injury."
As an interim measure, the ASI is seeking a provisional tariff and quota to provide essential respite to the local industry while the PC completes its analysis. The PC's final ruling is expected later this year.
