US Finalizes Duties On More Chinese Steel Imports

On February 2, the US Department of Commerce announced its final decision to impose antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) margins on imports of stainless steel sheet and strip from China.

Commerce confirmed final AD margins ranging from 63.86 percent to 76.64 percent on imports of the product from Chinese producers/exporters. It also determined final CVDs of between 75.60 percent and 190.71 percent on the same imports from China.

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) is scheduled to make its final determination by March 20 this year. If the ITC makes an affirmative final determination that imports of stainless steel sheet and strip from China materially injure, or threaten material injury to, the domestic industry, Commerce will then issue AD and CVD orders.

The United States imported about USD302m of the products from China in 2015. US producers contend that imports of stainless steel sheet and strip from China increased by 133 percent between 2013 and that year.

Commerce's latest decision builds on the large number of trade disputes currently involving the US steel sector and imports from China. Other investigations include imports of cold-rolled and hot-rolled steel flat products, non-oriented electrical steel, and corrosion-resistant steel products. In addition, Commerce has begun, since the second half of last year, to impose very substantial CVD and AD margins on Chinese exporters that are far higher than those on other countries' exporters.

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source : tax-news

Iran to impose new duty on steel imports from September

The Iranian parliament has imposed a new duty on steel imports, likely to be effective from September this year, according to the ICANA news agency, which is affiliated to the parliament.

The duty is Iranian Rial 100,000/mt (about $25/mt) of imported material and will be imposed on all steel products during Iran's sixth development plan, running from 2017 to 2023. The duty will cover billet, beam, different strips, tubes, pipes, stainless steel and scrap.

The duty will be imposed in addition to all import taxes already in place and the funds raised from it will be used for the development of the country's national railway system.

The new duty will almost certainly cause an increase in production costs for downstream industries, said Amirhosein Kaveh, secretary of the Iranian Syndicate of Steel Pipe and Profile Manufacturers. There is already considerable pressure on the Iranian pipe industry at the moment and a part of capacity is idle as a result of a slump in demand and production costs.

The Iranian government is following a highly protective policy for the upstream steel industry and this has increased production costs for downstream users, Kaveh said. The new duty would mark the third increase in import costs since January 2016. He also said that the syndicate has asked the government to cancel this new duty.

At the moment import duties are at 15% for semi-finished products; 20- 26% for flat products (excluding stainless steel) and 26% for most long products, including I-beams and H-beams.

The import duty on scrap is 4%; the "lowest possible" according to Iranian customs.

Source : Platts

China's province Hebei to cut 31.86 mln tonnes of steel and iron capacity in 2017

China's biggest steelmaking province Hebei plans to slash 31.86 million tonnes of steel and ironmaking capacity for this year, the official Xinhua news agency quoted a provincial official as saying on Sunday.

Hebei, a province in the north of the country near the capital Beijing, accounts for nearly a quarter of China's total steel output and has pledged to cut steel capacity by 31.17 million tonnes by 2017 and by 49.13 million tonnes by 2020.

Xinhua reported Hebei provincial governor Zhang Qingwei as saying in a government work paper that Hebei is aiming to eliminate 15.62 million tonnes of steel capacity, 16.24 million tonnes of ironmaking capacity by the end of this year.

Hebei had cut 14.62 million tonnes of steel capacity by the end of October, achieving 2016's target of 14.22 million tonnes ahead of schedule.

Zhang also said four "zombie firms" in Heibei would be shut down this year. He did not specify which firms.

"(The) process of reducing all ironmaking and steel production capacity in cities of Langfang, Baoding and Zhangjiakou will be accelerated this year," Zhang was quoted as saying.

In addition, there are plans to cut 7.42 million tonnes of coal capacity, 1.1 million tonnes of cement capacity and an additional 5 million weight cases of flat glass in 2017.

Tangshan, China's biggest steel producing city, which is in Hebei province, aims to close 8.6 million tonnes of steel capacity in 2017, the local government said on Thursday, part of its efforts to "upgrade" its highly-polluting heavy industrial economy. 

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Source : Reuters

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Indian Government imposes 5-year antidumping duties on coke imports from China, Australia

India has imposed antidumping duties on coke imports from China and Australia, which will be effective over the next five years, according to a statement released late Friday by the country's Ministry of Finance.

Duties of $25.20/mt and $16.29/mt will be levied on imports from China and Australia, respectively, starting November 25.

The antidumping application had been filed in December by the Indian Metallurgical Coke Manufacturers Association, whose members include coke makers Saurashtra Fuels Pvt. Ltd., Gujarat NRE Coke Ltd., Carbon Edge Industries Ltd., Bhatia Coke and Energy Ltd. and Basudha Udyog Pvt. Ltd, which together account for more than half of India's merchant coke output.

But market participants stated that the duty of $25.20/mt imposed on Chinese coke imports was only a small fraction of the current price and might not boost the competitiveness of Indian alternatives.

S&P Global Platts assessed metallurgical coke 64/62% CSR at $343/mt FOB North China, and $354/mt CFR India last Friday.

Indian steelmakers were already mulling output cuts as most were exposed to soaring Australian coking coal prices in the last two quarters, sources said.

Next on the agenda for coke and steel producers will be petitioning for the scrapping of the 2.5% import duty on coking coal, an Indian coke maker said.

"It will face no opposition from anyone in the industry and should be passed quickly," the source said.

Source : Platts

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EU member states must act forcibly against dumping – says EUROFER

The European Steel Association (EUROFER) has called upon member states to achieve a breakthrough on the modernisation of the European Union’s Trade Defence Instruments (TDIs). 

EUROFER’s call for action comes ahead of meeting of trade ministers of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council. At the meeting big issues, such as TDI modernisation, Market Economy Status for China, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) are up for discussion.

Axel Eggert, director-general of EUROFER, said that EU trade policy is facing a range of challenges, not least of which are unfair trade and public reservations over TTIP and CETA. “However, we must not be naïve free traders: member states must act forcefully to shore up our defences against dumping from third countries and demonstrate the strength of their convictions that closer trade relations with market economy-driven countries – such as the USA and Canada – will contribute significantly to the prosperity of the European Union and its citizens,” he said.

Eggert said that ther was now a real opportunity to make progress on lifting the Lesser Duty Rule (LDR) and speed up the process of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases.

“Improved EU trade defence measures will send the right signal: that our partners must abide by the rules of free and fair international trade,” Eggert said,

They will also explore how to handle China’s demand to be granted MES. No decisions are expected but early indications suggest that the Slovak Presidency is working to build a framework to help advance these dossiers.

As for market economy status for China, Eggert said that China must fulfill the requirements to be considered a market economy before it can reasonably make such a cliam. “To date, China only fulfills one out of the five well-established EU criteria,” he said, adding that it does not have an economy in which the market determines prices – one of the most basic elements in determining eligibility for MES status.

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