The European Steel Tube Association (ESTA) has welcomed the anti-dumping investigation into imports from China of certain circular seamless pipes. This is a very important dossier for the European industry, a source from the association tells Kallanish.
“Low-priced Chinese imports into Europe have flooded the market for two years, creating significant harm for European producers who have seen the closure of several plants in recent years, notably in Germany with Eschweiler, Max Huette, Vallourec Mülheim and Vallourec Rath,” the representative comments. Lengthy European bureaucracy remains a key issue, he adds. The investigation should last a few months instead of two years.
The market share of Chinese imports for seamless tubes in Europe increased from 3.8% in 2021 to 7% in 2022, reaching 12.6% in 2023, “knowing that there are already anti-dumping measures on imports of stainless steel seamless tubes as well as seamless tubes in diameters greater than 406.4mm from China,” he notes.
“In terms of timing, the investigation will take a maximum of 14 months. It should publish definitive measures by July 2025 but provisional measures may be applied after seven months [from the start of the investigation] in December 2024. If the commission decides to apply import registration, which was requested by ESTA in the complaint file, then retroactive measures can be applied four months after the complaint was filed in September 2024. The news of the start the investigation should already deter some imports,” the source concludes.
The European Commission initiated last week an anti-dumping investigation into imports from China of certain circular seamless pipe of an external diameter below 406.4mm and carbon equivalent value (CEV) below 0.86. The probe follows a complaint lodged in April by ESTA. The products under investigation fall under EU TARIC codes 7304191020, 7304193020, 7304230020, 7304291020, 7304293020, 7304312030, 7304318030, 7304395030, 7304398230, 7304398320, 7304518930, 7304598230 and 7304598320.
Last year, the Commission confirmed the extension of existing anti-dumping measures on imports of certain seamless pipe of an external diameter exceeding 406.4mm originating from China (see Kallanish passim).
Natalia Capra France