Canada Requires Steel Importers to Provide Country of Melt and Pour Information
This data will provide insights into the origins of imported steel and help improve transparency and monitoring within the steel import industry.
The Government of Canada has announced that starting November 5, 2024, steel importers will be required to submit country of melt and pour information to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) through the Single Window Integrated (SWI) Import Declaration.
This will be one of the main conditions for using General Import Permits (GIPs) Nos. 80 and 81 of the Import Control List (ICL), covering carbon and specialty steel.
Once the initiative is fully implemented in November, the CBSA will start publishing public steel import monitoring reports on its website that include aggregate country of melt and pour data.
To date, the U.S. is the only other country in the world that collects country of melt and pour information for steel imports.
Country of melt and pour (COM) refers to where raw steel was initially produced in a liquid state and then poured into its first solid form.
This information, typically found on a mill test certificate, helps improve supply chain transparency and offers a more detailed understanding of the origins of steel imported into Canada.
It is different from country of origin information.
With the global steel industry facing issues like overproduction and unfair trade, Canada’s new rule requiring disclosure of where steel was first produced in its liquid state before being poured into its initial solid form is considered a big step.
Imports represent 61% of the Canadian steel market. The Canadian Steel Producers Association welcomed the announcement to require country of melt and pour data and, in a press release, stated that Canada’s “trade remedies system will benefit from this enhancement of data collection.”
As part of Canada's Steel Import Monitoring Program, the COM data requirement enables the Canadian steel industry to compete better. It will help align Canada’s trade regulations with the U.S. and support the use of cleaner steel in North American supply chains.
Mary Ng, Canada’s Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development, stated that “Canada is implementing a predictable and transparent process for collecting melt and pour information, which will bring more reliability and resiliency to the North American steel supply chain.”
“This is yet another step Team Canada is taking to support good jobs and strengthen our North American competitiveness,” she continued.
Marty Warren, national director of the United Steelworkers Union (USW), said that “the era of seeking the cheapest possible imports, regardless of impact on workers or the environment, is long gone.”
Warren claims that Canada's steel is the cleanest or second cleanest in the world and suggests that Canada must adopt key measures to protect its steel industry. These include:
Global Affairs Canada (GAC) monitors the import of steel. As part of its mandate, importers must declare the country of melt and pour to release steel imported into Canada and avoid delays at the border.
For more information about this story and to ensure your compliance with this new requirement, please reach out to one of our trade professionals.