September 08, 2008

EC imposes provisional AD duties on ferrosilicon imports

It is reported that the European Commission has imposed provisional antidumping duties on imports of ferrosilicon originating in China, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Republic of Macedonia and Russia. EC said the duty rates range from 2.8% to 35.5% depending on the specific company and that the provisional duty takes effect with the August 29th 2007 for a period of six months.

The decision was taken after investigations, which began in November 2006 following a complaint from European ferroalloy producer group Euroalliages.

The European Commission noted that import volumes from China, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Macedonia and Russia increased significantly, from 134,081 million tonnes in 2003 to 452,108 million tonnes in the investigation period, while their combined market share increased continually from 15.4% to 51.2% against a background of almost stable consumption. It added that over the same period, output by European Community ferrosilicon producers fell by 40% to 163,908 million tonnes in the investigation period, from 272,364 million tonnes in 2003.

The European Commission said sales of ferrosilicon by European Community producers to independent customers on the EU market decreased steadily by 38% from 250,316 million tonnes in 2003 to 156,633 million tonnes in the investigation period, so the European Community industry experienced a loss of market share amounting to 11 percentage points, to 17.7% from 28.7%.

EC said that is has provisionally concluded that there is no compelling reasons against the imposition of antidumping duties in the present case adding that it. However, the Commission will investigate further the Community interest aspects of the case before any final determination is made.