South Korea’s steel product exports to the European Union (EU) fell 41.2% year over year to $188.31 million in July, from $320.28 million a year earlier, while export volume dropped 44.8% to 180,948 tons. July’s export value was the lowest for the month since 2013. The decline came after the EU cut its tariff-free steel quota from 33.82 million tons to 18.35 million tons and raised the tariff on shipments above the quota from 25% to 50%. South Korea secured a country-specific tariff-free quota of 2.073 million tons, down 19.7% from 2.581 million tons, and can also compete for a shared quota of 1,735,574 tons. Analysts caution that exports had already been falling since April, meaning the July decline cannot be attributed solely to the new safeguards. The South Korean government aims to generate domestic demand exceeding the 510,000-ton reduction in its dedicated quota.