West China City Daily reported that the levies of as much as 99% antidumping tariffs on USD 3.2 billion worth Chinese OCTG case is probably the largest scale antidumping and countervailing case in Chinese history.

The data from Chinese ministry of commerce unveiled that nearly 90 enterprises got involved in this case, including some large state owned enterprises in China like Tianjin Steel Pipe, Baosteel and Angang etc.

The Commerce Ministry criticized the US decision on last Thursday to raise tariffs on Chinese pipes were as protectionist, which would badly hurt Chinese exports. And Chinese government may take measure to safeguard national industrial interests.

Mr Yao Jian a spokesman at the Chinese ministry, said in the statement that "Falling demand, caused by the financial crisis is the ultimate reason for the problems in the US steel industry. The US should take t his into consideration in its further investigations and make a fair and reasonable final ruling."

Chinese government said it will stick to the dispute resolution process laid out in WTO agreements in a bid to keep fair trade orders in the global market.

Also Friday, Beijing announced it was launching an anti dumping investigation of imported US autos. It said it was acting on a complaint by Chinese automakers but gave no details of the alleged American misconduct. The case could result in higher tariffs on US autos if Chinese investigators can conclude American automakers received improper subsidies or sold their products in a below fair market price.

US Commerce Department decided to slap as highest as 99.14% antidumping duties on oil pipes imported from China on November 5th. And they believed that the prices carried out by Chinese manufacturers and exporters were much lower than the local ones in US. As a result, there are 37 Chinese steelmakers suffering 36.53% antidumping tariffs and the others have to face as much as 99 percentage duties.

(Sourced from West China City Daily)