Today marks the start of the third quarter and second half of the year, triggering a vast and scheduled update to the UK Global Tariff. Over 15,000 measures took effect, dominated by the rollover of the UK’s steel safeguard regime and numerous agricultural tariff rate quotas (TRQs). As anticipated in yesterday’s briefing, the anti-dumping duties on nitrogenous fertilisers from Russia and Belarus that expired on 30 June were immediately replaced with new measures today, confirming policy continuity. The immense volume of changes, concentrated in iron, steel, and meat products, reflects a foundational administrative reset for the new trading period.
A New Quarter, A New Tariff Schedule
The start of a new quarter is typically a period of significant regulatory activity, and today’s update, with over 27,000 change records loaded, is a prime example. This activity is not a signal of widespread policy change but rather a large-scale administrative rollover of time-bound measures. The changes were overwhelmingly concentrated in HS chapters for iron and steel (Chapters 72 and 73) and meat (Chapter 02), reflecting the scheduled reset of the UK’s most significant quota systems.
Headline Measures Taking Effect
As we have been flagging, the end of the second quarter on 30 June marked a key transition point for several major trade measures. Today, their successor arrangements for the third quarter came into force.
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Steel Safeguards Renewed: The tariff rate quotas for the UK’s steel safeguard regime, which lapsed yesterday, have been replaced by the new measures governing the quota period for the third quarter. The thousands of changes recorded in the iron and steel chapters represent the activation of this new framework.
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Fertiliser Duties Reinstated: The anti-dumping duties on nitrogenous fertilisers (HS 3102) from Russia and Belarus were immediately renewed. The measures that expired on 30 June were succeeded today by new duties, including rates of 20% on imports from both countries.
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Agricultural Quotas Reset: A large number of tariff rate quotas for agricultural goods, particularly for beef products (HS Chapter 02), have also been reset for the new period. New quotas with various in-quota duty rates, such as 20% or compound duties like 20% + 1300.74 GBP / 1,000 kg for certain cuts, are now active for imports from all countries.
What to watch
With the tariff framework for the third quarter now in place, the immediate focus for importers will be on utilising the new quota volumes for steel and key agricultural products. While the vast majority of today’s changes were scheduled administrative rollovers, the reinstatement of fertiliser duties confirms the UK’s continued trade-defence posture in that sector. The tariff schedule is now largely set for the second half of the year, absent any new, ad-hoc interventions.