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European Commission imposes final duties on stainless steel products from China, Taiwan

http://www.chemnet.com   Aug 28,2015 Platts
European Commission imposes final duties on stainless steel products from China, Taiwan
The European Commission has imposed definitive anti-dumping duties ranging from 24.4% to 25.3% on imports of stainless steel cold rolled flat products from China, and duties of 6.8% on imports of similar material from Taiwan, the EC said Thursday.

For China, the duty levels are broadly in line with the provisional duties imposed by the EC in late March, which were 24.3%-25.2%; in the case of Taiwan, it has been reduced from the initial 10.9%-12%.

Following the imposition of the provisional duties, however, one Taiwanese producer -- Chia Far Industrial Factory Co. Ltd. -- was found not to be dumping, and is not subject to any anti-dumping duties, the EC said.

The duties take effect Friday following Thursday's publication of the notice in the EC Official Journal, but will not be levied retroactively.

The EC launched its investigation into imports of cold rolled flat products from China and Taiwan in June 2014 in response to a complaint from EU steel producer group Eurofer. In December it made imports of the products concerned from China and Taiwan subject to registration.

"A comparison of monthly average imports of [stainless steel cold rolled flat products] during the investigation period (January 1-December 31, 2013) with monthly average imports for the period under registration (December 17 2014-25 March 2015) shows a decrease of import volumes for the period under registration," the EC said.

"The monthly average import quantity of SSCR from the countries concerned amounted to 26,043 mt during the investigation. For comparison, during the period of registration the monthly average import volume of SSCR from the countries concerned was around 22,000 mt or around 15% lower," it added.

"Therefore, the criterion concerning a further substantial rise in imports is not met. As a consequence, it is concluded that the definitive anti-dumping duty shall not be levied retroactively prior to the date of application of provisional measures," the EC said.

While a number of interested parties made submission in response to the provisional findings, the EC said Thursday that it stood by the results of its initial investigation and concluded that "definitive anti-dumping measures should be imposed on imports of stainless steel cold-rolled flat products originating in the PRC and Taiwan."

It rejected offers of price undertakings from three exporting producers as impractical given "the multitude of indistinguishable product types, covered by the offers, which vary significantly in price as well as the complex company/group structures of the exporting producers."

According to Eurostat figures cited in the EC announcement, import volumes into the EU from the countries concerned rose steadily from 2009, when they stood at 87,517 mt, to 184,140 mt in 2010 and 269,845 mt in 2011. In 2012 imports dipped to 220,151 mt, then rose to 312,517 mt in 2013 and jumped to 583,460 mt in 2014.

The majority of the EU industry supports the measures, the EC said, with the exception of Europe's largest producer-- Finland's Outokumpu -- which "continued to remain silent." One producer of precision strips also, came forward in support of the measures after the publication of the provisional decision, while German engineering and metals labor union IG Metall also expressed its support, the EC said.

"They expressed concerns about the negative impact of the dumped imports on the state of the Union industry," the EC said, adding: "This trade union also represents workers in important user industries such as automotive and white goods."

Having decided as a result to impose definitive anti-dumping duties, the EC set the duty levels as follows: For China: Shanxi Taigang Stainless Steel and Tianjin TISCO & TPCO Stainless Steel, 24.4%; other cooperating companies (Lianzhong Stainless Steel Corp., Ningbo Qi Yi Precision Metals Co., Tianjin Lianfa Precision Steel Corp, and Zhangjiagang Pohang Stainless Steel Co.), 24.6%; and all other companies, 25.3%.
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