EU slaps anti-dumping duties on Chinese, Russian steel
Photo © Copyright ArcelorMittal
(BRUSSELS) - The European Union slapped anti-dumping duties on 'cold rolled steel' from China and Russia on Thursday, with the stipulation that they should remain in place for five years.
The duties will, for the first time, also be levied retro-actively on imports registered during the two months that preceded the adoption of provisional measures on 12 February 2016.
'Cold rolled steel' is an industrial input for the packaging, white goods, general industry, automotive industry and the construction industry.
The investigation was initiated on 14 May 2015 following a complaint submitted by the industry. The duties range from 19.7% to 22.1% for Chinese and from 18.7% to 36.1% for Russian companies.
In the wake of the global steel overcapacity crisis, the European Commission says it is applying the trade defence instruments to re-establish a level-playing field between EU and foreign producers.
The EU currently has over 100 trade defence measures in place, 37 of them targeting unfair imports of steel products, 15 of which from China.
12 more investigations concerning steel products are still ongoing.