The EU has retained its anti-dumping duty on imports of wire rod from China (PRC) after completing an expiry review requested by Eurofer last year.
The duty applies to products under HS codes 7213 10 00, 7213 20 00, 7213 91 10, 7213 91 20, 7213 91 41, 7213 91 49, 7213 91 70, 7213 91 90, 7213 99 10, 7213 99 90, 7227 10 00, 7227 20 00, 7227 90 10, 7227 90 50 and 7227 90 95. The rate is 7.9% for Valin Group and 24% for all other Chinese companies.
The move extends the duty originally imposed in 2009 and then extended the first time in 2015. The review investigation period (POI) of the latest probe covered 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020. The duties have been extended despite the European Commission conceding that wire rod imports from PRC have almost “disappeared.”
“While Chinese imports accounted for 5% market share and 1.1 million tonnes in the original investigation period, they have, based on information from Eurostat, virtually disappeared from the Union market. In fact, imports from the PRC decreased from 556 to 75 tonnes over the period considered,” the Commission says in its findings monitored by Kallanish.
“The company with the 7.9% duty rate is related to the ArcelorMittal group and according to the complainants does not produce significant quantities of wire rod any longer. However, the other Chinese exporting producers also ceased to sell into the Union. The wire rod market appears to be very price sensitive and the 24% price increase caused by the anti-dumping duty in force made Chinese exporters to lose interest in the Union market,” the Commission concludes.
EU production of the products in question was 18.3 million tonnes in the POI, down 9% from 2017, with capacity up 6% to 27.3m t/year and utilisation down to 67% from 78%. Consumption in the bloc meanwhile fell 8% to 18.82mt.
Adam Smith Germany
