EU starts expiry review of anti-dumping measures on rebar from Belarus

The European Commission (the Commission) has initiated an expiry review of its anti-dumping measures on rebar imported from Belarus, it said on Tuesday June 14.
The definitive anti-dumping duties, set at 10.6%, were imposed by the Commission on June 16, 2017 and were scheduled to expire on June 17, 2022.

The Commission started the expiry review at the request of regional steel association Eurofer, on March 16 of this year on behalf of the EU steel rebar industry, a notice in the EU Official Journal said.

The investigation will be conducted within the next 12-15 months to determine whether the expiry of the measures will lead to a continuation or recurrence of trade subsidies or to injury to the European steel industry.

If the measures were allowed to lapse, the Official Journal said, the import volumes of rebar products from Belarus would be likely to increase because there is substantial unused capacity in the nation.

The import tariff under expiry review applies to iron and non-alloy steel from Belarus not further worked than forged, hot-rolled, hot-drawn or hot-extruded, but including those twisted after rolling and also those containing indentations, ribs, grooves or other deformations produced during the rolling process, currently falling within CN codes ex 7214 10 00, ex 7214 20 00, ex 7214 30 00, ex 7214 91 10, ex 7214 91 90, ex 7214 99 10, ex 7214 99 71, ex 7214 99 79 and ex 7214 99 95.

Rebar exports to Europe from the country’s sole rebar exporter, Belarus Steel Works (BMZ), fell by 24.86% year on year to 54,279 tonnes in the first four months of 2022, down from 72,238 tonnes in the first four months of 2021, data from the European steel association, Eurofer, showed.

The decrease was related to the European Union’s sanctions against Belarus for its cooperation with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, sources said.

Published by: Julia Bolotova