Chinese steel products under frequent anti-dumping investigations from ASEAN

 Feb 28, 2015  09:27:14

On the backdrop of a historical high steel export in Jan, the Chinese steel industry again triggered anti-dumping or countervailing investigations. Lately, Malaysia made a final anti-dumping ruling and Thailand adjusted the anti-dumping duty rate on some steel products imported from China.

According to the General Administration of Customs, China exported 3.669mn tonnes and 2.47mn tonnes steel products to Thailand and Malaysia respectively in 2014, up 33.79% and 41.73% y-o-y.

In 2014, China shipped out 93.78mn tonnes steel exports in total, soaring 50.5% y-o-y, equivalent to net export of 84.41mn tonnes crude steel, up around 33.08mn tonnes y-o-y; meanwhile, China’s crude steel output gained 7.34mn tonnes, suggesting that the overseas market absorbed the incremental steel output in China.

Notably, in 2010, with the China-ASEAN Free Trade Zone established, China and the 10 members of ASEAN embraced the era of zero tariff; as a result, China’s steel exports to ASEAN have surged since then. In 2012, ASEAN overtook South Korea to be the largest overseas market for China-made steel products. Accordingly, a large number of ASEAN countries have launched anti-dumping or countervailing investigations against the steel products imported from China. Besides Thailand and Malaysia, other ASEAN countries have also imposed anti-dumping and countervailing pressure on China-made steel products.

On Dec 31, 2014, the Ministry of Finance and State Administration of Taxation announced to abolish the export rebate on boron-added steel products. However, in Jan 2015, the first month post the announcement, China’s steel exports jumped 52.1% y-o-y to a new historical high of 10.29mn tonnes.

-edited by Mysteel.net

-To contact the editor on this report at maowx@mysteel.com.cn or hizach@mysteel.net.cn