Anti-Dumping Duties Imposed on Stainless Steel

Eight months after a probe into low-price imports was launched, the EU has imposed provisional anti-dumping duties on a range of stainless steel products originating from Taiwan, China and Indonesia. The imposition of duties is designed to restore fair trading conditions, putting an end to price depressions and permitting the EU stainless steel industry to recover.

The new duties on hot-rolled stainless steel coils and sheets include a 17% rate on shipments from two Indonesia-based subsidiaries of Tsingshan Holding Group, a major Chinese stainless steel fabricator. Low production costs in Indonesia, combined with the rapid expansion of Tsingshan, have created worry among EU producers abour market share.

Shanxi Taigang Stainless Steel Ltd, Tsingshan's major rival, was hit with the highest duty rate of 18.9%. Other mainland China stainless steel firms saw rates of between 14.5% and 17.4% imposed, though duties on Taiwanese companies were lower (from 6% to 7.5%).

The probe into low-price stainless steel imports began in August of 2019 and was precipitated by a dumping complaint lodged by the European Steel Association (Eurofer). This complaint, lodged on behalf of four separate EU producers, followed a surge of imports after Washington's 25% import tariffs effectively shut down the US market.

The European Commission found that Chinese, Indonesian and Taiwanese stainless steel imports to the EU had increased by 66% during the investigation period (from 1st July 2018 to 30th June 2019: these imports reached over 30% of free market consumption. Prices of said imports undercut EU industry prices by margins of 4.1% (Taiwan), 9.3% (China) and 10.7% (Indonesia).

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