EU announces fresh anti-dumping duties on Russian and Chinese steel imports
The duties on cold-rolled steel, which is used to make cars and washing machines, range up to 22.1 per cent for Chinese imports and up to 36.1 per cent for Russian imports. The rates are a little higher than provisional penalties in place since February.
The European steel industry has long called for tougher EU anti-dumping duties, which aim to protect the bloc’s companies from ultra-cheap imports. Using a different calculation method, the USimposed tariffs in excess of 500 per cent on similar cold-rolled steel materials from China earlier this year.
The commission is planning further measures that would allow it to impose US-style tariffs against steel that is dumped at particularly low prices or subsidised.
“This shows the EU is starting to tackle the state-supported dumping of steel into the UK, but it’s still being outmuscled by Uncle Sam,” said Dominic King, head of policy at UK Steel, an industry group. Britain will need its own tariff regime once it leaves the EU to ensure that China and Russia do not “destroy” the UK steel industry, he added.
The duties follow a formal complaint in April 2015 from European steel groups, who argue that surging imports from China are to blame for last year’s price collapse. Steel prices have been rising throughout most of this year.
Cut-price steel imports have become a particularly politically sensitive topic in Europe and the US as western leaders face a popular backlash against globalisation. In Britain, 11,000 jobs are in jeopardy as efforts continue to rescue lossmaking factories owned by Tata Steel, which has partly blamed China for its problems.
Source: Financial Times