EU imposes anti-dumping duty on China steel fasteners

The European Commission has imposed a definitive anti-dumping duty of 22.1-86.5% on iron and steel fasteners originating in China. This follows its investigation launched in December 2020 after a complaint lodged by the European Industrial Fasteners Institute (EIFI).

The duty rates are applicable to the net, free-at-Union-frontier price, before duty. Product affected falls under HS codes 7318 12 90, 7318 14 91, 7318 14 99, 7318 15 58, 7318 15 68, 7318 15 82, 7318 15 88, ex 7318 15 95 (TARIC codes 7318 15 95 19 and 7318 15 95 89), ex 7318 21 00 (TARIC codes 7318 21 00 31, 7318 21 00 39, 7318 21 00 95 and 7318 21 00 98) and ex 7318 22 00 (TARIC codes 7318 22 00 31, 7318 22 00 39, 7318 22 00 95 and 7318 22 00 98). The broader categories are screws, washers and bolts.

The products are made from HS code 7213 91 90, 7213 99 90, 7227 90 00 and 7228 30 90 steel, meaning wire rod and hot rolled bar/flats of tool steel.

The Commission previously made imports of fasteners originating in China subject to registration by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/970. “The Commission noted that, since no provisional measures were adopted, the Commission decided that retroactive collection of duties was not legally possible,” the Commission says in a note seen by Kallanish. “Therefore, all claims concerning the registration Regulation became moot and the registration Regulation is hereby repealed in full.”

The Commission’s investigation period was 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020. In this time, EU consumption of the product under investigation was 1.75 million tonnes. Imports from China were 209,033t, taking a 12% share of the EU market. Domestic production was 1.06mt, with capacity at 2.31mt, meaning a 46% capacity utilisation. Domestic sales were 1.04mt, taking a 59% market share. Imports from Taiwan were meanwhile actually larger, at 236,636t.

Adam Smith Germany