EU starts Taiwan, Turkey, Vietnam stainless CRC registration

The European Commission has initiated an investigation to examine the potential circumvention of anti-dumping measures placed on imports of stainless steel cold-rolled (SSCR) flat products from Indonesia. This would be done through imports of the same products from Taiwan, Turkey, and Vietnam.

The new regulation mandates that imports of SSCR flat products consigned from Taiwan, Turkey, and Vietnam, whether declared as originating from these countries or not, be subjected to registration during the next nine months, Kallanish notes.

The EU has raised suspicions that Taiwan, Turkey, and Vietnam are importing stainless steel slab or hot-rolled flat products from Indonesia with the intent of converting them into cold-rolled stainless steel, which is subsequently exported to the EU. This suspicion arises due to a noticeable increase in imports into the EU from these three countries since the initiation of the anti-dumping investigations.

The total value of Indonesian-origin components in the finished product exceeds 60%, while the value added during processing in Taiwan, Turkey, and Vietnam remains below 25% of the manufacturing cost.

The practices appear to undermine the intended effects of the existing anti-dumping measures, impacting both quantities and prices of SSCR steel in the EU, according to the Commission.

The Commission has thus commenced an inquiry into potential circumvention of anti-dumping measures pertaining to flat-rolled products of stainless steel, classified under CN codes 7219 31 00, 7219 32 10, 7219 32 90, 7219 33 10, 7219 33 90, 7219 34 10, 7219 34 90, 7219 35 10, 7219 35 90, 7219 90 20, 7219 90 80, 7220 20 21, 7220 20 29, 7220 20 41, 7220 20 49, 7220 20 81, 7220 20 89, 7220 90 20, and 7220 90 80. These products are already subjected to measures when originating in Indonesia.

In the current investigation, the product remains the same, but the focus shifts to consignments from Taiwan, Turkey, or Vietnam, regardless of whether they are declared to originate from these countries or not.

Running parallel to the investigation, the Commission has also initiated a probe into the potential evasion of countervailing measures. This pertains to the same product and origins.

Elina Virchenko UAE