September 08, 2008
Eurofer files AD complaints for HDG and SS against China
European Confederation of Iron and Steel Industries have filed the first two of four anti dumping complaints with the European Commission. These primarily cover cold rolled stainless coil and HDG imports from China and stainless cold rolled flat products from South Korea and Taiwan. Two further complaints are likely to be filed for wire rod and plates.
The Commission is understood to have a maximum of 45 days to decide whether or not to launch a full investigation. The European Commission will investigate the complaint and could impose provisional measures on Chinese imports within nine months. The commission's decision will ultimately need approval from EU member states and could be challenged by Beijing at the World Trade Organization.
Mr Gordon Moffat GD of the European Confederation of Iron and Steel Industries said Chinese output was out of control and talks with Beijing have failed to cap overcapacity. Eurofer said “Exports of the products concerned had inundated the EU market, following exponential export surges into the market by up to 3,300% over the past four years. Massive volumes have been dumped on the EU market at dumping margins of up to 40%. EU domestic prices have been undercut by up to 25%.”
The call for countermeasures is likely to be backed strongly by several South European countries and Germany but opposed by countries more committed to free trade like Britain and the Nordic countries. The request sets the scene for a debate likely to divide European governments as steel makers and companies reliant on cheap imports fight out of their respective corners.
Mr Adrian Harris secretary general of Orgalime, which represents the engineering industry, said that its members are already having difficulty sourcing raw materials including steel. Orgalime said that 250,000 jobs in Europe depend on steel making, as opposed to 7 million in metalworking and mechanical engineering, which use imports.
Those figures are disputed by Eurofer, which said that steel making employs 372,000 directly and a further 1 million indirectly. Moreover, the antidumping request was aimed at specific products to avoid harming consumers.
