EU Awaits Final Decision on Anti Dumping on Hot Rolled Steel

European Union final decision on imposition of anti dumping duties on hot rolled steel from Brazil, Iran, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine,still seems indecisive.The Eurofer-, European steel body is  in the favor of imposing final dumping duties on above mentioned countries,however European comission (EC) is opposing the imposition of final anti dumping duties on  hot rolled steel .Hence the investigation which had started long back and final decision is still awaited.

The commission initiated an anti-dumping investigation into the import of material from the countries on 7 Jul’16 and was expected to set preliminary anti-dumping duties into HRC from Brazil, Iran, Russia, Ukraine and Serbia on 7 Apr’17. However, the EC has not yet announced any provisional duties.

Since the nation is facing the tremendous problem of flooding of cheaper imports from China and other countries,leading to sharp decline in European domestic prices. However,the nation has started emerging from the crisis and has witnessed the prices plunge in 2015.

The EU commission decides “ whether to impose provisional duties on unfairly traded or “dumped” products, while EU member states decide on final duties”.

Although the nation has imposed anti dumping and anti subsidy duties on 17 Chinese steel products and shifted the focus on the material imported from other countries.

EU Imposed Anti Dumping Duties on Chinese HRC
On 6 Apr’16 The European Commission has imposed definitive anti-dumping duties at the rate of 18.10-35.90% on hot rolled coil imported from China.

EU HRC Imports in 2016-
According to provisional data maintained with SteelMint, European Union imported 32.14 MnT of HRC in 2016. The figure includes intra as well as inter foreign trades of European Union nations. Out of which share of these five countries along with China was 24%.

If in case EU does not plans to impose duties on HRC imports from Brazil, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia and Iran; this may not prove beneficial for Indian HRC exporters. As Europe serves as a major market for Indian HRC exports.