EU proposes provisional anti-dumping duties on HRC imports from Egypt, Japan, Vietnam

• Duties of 6.9-33% imposed on these 3 countries
• India exempted from provisional AD duties

The European Commission (EC) has released the preliminary findings of its anti-dumping (AD) investigations into hot-rolled coil (HRC) imports from India, Egypt, Japan, and Vietnam, proposing provisional duties of 6.9-33% on material from the latter three. Notably, India has been exempted from provisional AD duties, with the EC concluding that no dumping took place during the investigation period.

The duties are as follows: 12.1% for Vietnam, 15.6% for Egypt, 33% for Japan’s Nippon Steel and other companies not separately investigated, 6.9% for Japan’s Tokyo Steel, and 32% for Japan’s Daido Steel and JFE Steel Corporation.

Furthermore, the EC will not impose a provisional AD duty on Hoa Phat Dung Quat Steel, a major Vietnamese producer, but will apply a 12.1% duty on its competitor, Formosa Ha Tinh.

Product scope

The products subject to the provisional duties include certain flat-rolled products of iron, non-alloy steel, or other alloy steel, whether or not in coils, originating from Egypt, Japan, and Vietnam.

EU steel imports see significant growth in 11MCY’24

The EU’s steel import volume rose 13% y-o-y in the first 11 months of CY’24, with finished product shipments rising by 9%. Flats witnessed a 10% increase, while longs grew 8%.

Notably, the primary exporters of finished steel products to the EU during this period were Turkiye (15% share), India (12%), South Korea (11%), Vietnam (10%), and Taiwan (9%), accounting for 57% of total arrivals.

Turkiye saw an 87% y-o-y surge in shipments, while Vietnam and India experienced strong growth of 27% and 14%, respectively. Taiwan and South Korea experienced more modest increases of 6% and 4%, respectively.

Conversely, finished imports from Japan and China dropped by 18% and 10%, respectively.

Outlook

The imposition of provisional anti-dumping duties is expected to significantly impact the EU’s trade flows and limit HRC shipments from the affected countries. The recently revised steel safeguard measures will also reduce the maximum volume of HRCs that each of these countries can export duty-free to the EU.