Malaysia’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) has announced anti-dumping tax on the imports of flat rolled product of iron alloy or non-alloy steel, plated or coated with zinc, using hot dip process (galvanised iron coils/sheets or galvanised steel coils/sheets – galvanised iron) from China and Vietnam for the period of five years i.e. till 2024.
MITI said it had conducted and completed a detailed investigation on producers and importers in Malaysia, as well as producers/exporters from the alleged countries in accordance with the Countervailing and Anti-Dumping Duties Act 1993.
The percentage of duty imposed
The investigation body has listed down the company names and anti-dumping tax percentage to be imposed. China’s Angang Steel Company Limited will be taxed 10.02 %, Bengang Steel Plates Co. Ltd. at 10.62 %, BX Steel POSCO Cold Rolled Sheet Co. Ltd. at 5.47 %, Fujian Kaijing Greentech Material Co. Ltd. at -5.11 %, Jiangyin ZongCheng Steel Co. Ltd. at 5.95 %, Rizhao Baohua New Material Co. Ltd. at 3.75 %, Shandong Huijin Color Steel Co. Ltd. at 4.33 %, Tianjin Haigang Steel Coil Co. Ltd. at -4.66 %, Yieh Phui (China) Technomaterial Co. Ltd. at 3.76 % and other producers/exporters at 16.13 %.
As for imports from Vietnam, MITI named China Steel Sumikin Joint Stock Company to be imposed anti-dumping duties amounting 3.76 %, Hoa Sen Group at -3.34 %, Nam Kim Steel Joint Stock Company at 2.66 % and other producers/exporters at 15.69 %.
On August 25, 2018, MITI had initiated an anti-dumping investigation based on a petition filed by Malaysian company FIW Steel Sdn. Bhd. on behalf of the domestic industry producing flat rolled product of iron alloy or non-alloy steel, plated or coated with zinc, using hot dip process (galvanised iron coils/sheets or galvanised steel coils/sheets – galvanised iron).
In Nov’18, the country had slapped provisional anti-dumping duties ranging from ranging from 3.33% to 16.13% on imports of galvanised iron (GI) from China and Vietnam for not more than 120 days.
The mixed reviews
With this duty imposition, the Malaysian domestic steel players are expecting improvement in their sales volume on the reduction of rising imports in the country. According to customs data, imports accounted for 52% of Malaysia’s total GI consumption in 2017, up from 40% in 2015.
However, some of the industry players are of the opinion that the duty rate is insufficient to curb the dumping of certain GI products from China and Vietnam and that the rate is also lower than the existing anti-dumping duties on pre-painted GI which range from 12% to 52% for five years. Therefore, the positive impact of this recent move could only be minimal to the industry.
The likely impact
Now after the duty being imposed by Malaysia on GI Steel imports from China and Vietnam, chances are high that, the GI products from China and Vietnam may start flooding the other Southeast Asian markets including India. According to the customs data, China and Vietnam are amongst the top five countries in India’s GI importing countries. India imported about 1.39 MnT of galvanised steel in 2018, out of which imports from China and Vietnam stood at 165,032 tonnes and 172,351 tonnes respectively.
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