China Steels Face 9 Antidumping Investigations in 2013

With the difficult conditions in Chinese steel industry, there are more and more antidumping investigations against Chinese steel industry. On July 4, Colombia announced to launch an antidumping investigation against Chinese steel wire. In fact, since 2013, Chinese steel products have been involved in at least 9 antidumping investigations from the U.S., Australia, Canada, the EU, and etc.

An analyst said that the frequently happened trade conflicts in the steel industry may be greatly related to the scale of Chinese steel product exports. In 2012, China exported 55.73 million tons of steel products (up 14% over 2011). The frequent antidumping investigations would somewhat refrain Chinese steel products exports. Once the antidumping rate is established, Chinese steel product exports will face high antidumping duties where the investigations are launched, which also increases the cost of the industry. When the industry increases the product price to offset the cost, it will then decrease the advantage of the export industry originally created by the low price.

Chinese steel plants and steel product exporters should diversify their export systems and be prepared to react to any possible investigation, as well as develop and produce high value added steel products to decrease the reliance on specific steel product imports.