China levies anti-dumping tariffs on US and Russian electric steel

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced today on its Web site that it has imposed anti-dumping tariffs on grain-oriented flat-rolled electric steel (GOFES) imported from the United States and Russia as of April 11.

The statement said that companies from the two countries have dumped electric steel on the Chinese market and this has caused substantial damage to the domestic industry.

China will impose anti-dumping duties of 7.8 percent on AK Steel Corp. and 19.9 percent on Allegheny Ludlum Corp., the two American producers that responded to its request for information. AK Steel faces anti-subsidy duties of 11.7 percent and Ludlum faces 12 percent.

Other U.S. producers will be assessed for anti-dumping duties of up to 64.8 percent, and anti-subsidy duties of up to 44.6 percent.

Russian silicon steel producers OJSC Novolipetsk Steel and VIZ-Stal, Ltd. face anti-dumping duties of 6.3 percent, while others face duties of 25 percent.

On June 1, 2009, the MOFCOM announced the launch of an anti-dumping investigation into imports of grain-oriented flat-rolled electric steel (GOFES) from the United States and Russia, as well as an countervailing duty investigation into 22 subsidies related to U.S. GOFES.

Around three months later, the ministry said that it will investigate another six U.S. steel subsidies, including U.S. government coal subsidies and power and natural gas offered at low prices.

That was China's first countervailing duty investigation and first dual trade remedy investigation into its imports from the same country.

The complaints were filed by Baosteel Group Corp. and Wuhan Iron & Steel Group, whose gross output of electric steel between 2006 and January to February 2009 accounted for 100 percent of the gross output of this type of product in China during that period.

By People's Daily Online