The European Commission confirmed last week the opening of an expiry review for anti-dumping duties against certain corrosion-resistant coils originating from China, Kallanish notes.
The original measures were first imposed in late 2017. Currently, duties range from 17.2-27.9% depending on the mill. The measures currently do not include automotive grade hot-dip galvanized coil and were last reviewed in 2020.
The expiry review has been requested by Eurofer, which argues the termination of the measures in place will result in a recurrence of dumping and injury to the European industry.
“[Eurofer] alleges the likelihood of recurrence of injury from China. In this respect, the applicant has provided evidence that, should measures be allowed to lapse, the current import level of the product under review from China to the Union is likely to increase due to the existence of unused capacity in China,” the note by the European Commission explains.
“In addition, the surplus of supply due to low steel demand in China due to post Covid-19 developments, the measures imposed from other third countries against imports of certain corrosion resistant steels from China, as well as the significant and continuous decrease of the freight costs from China to the Union is likely to lead to the redirection of the imports of the product concerned to the Union market, if measures expire,” it adds.
Eurofer also provided evidence that Chinese exporters are selling their products in other markets at prices much lower than the one seen in the EU market, confirming therefore that the latter remains an attractive market for Chinese exporters.
According to Eurofer data, Chinese-origin imports of HDG in Europe fell significantly from the peak of 1.9 million tonnes in 2016, following the imposition of duties. Last year, nevertheless, these surpassed 700,000t, up from 550,000t in 2021.
The expiry review will be concluded by the second quarter of 2024. In the meantime, the existing measures will remain in place.
Emanuele Norsa Italy
