The European Union yesterday imposed anti-dumping duties on concrete-reinforcing steel imported from China, as part of efforts to stop underpriced goods from flooding the bloc’s markets.
Brussels and Beijing have been caught up in several trade disputes over allegations that China is illegally undercutting prices,
threatening the livelihood of European producers.
China is the bloc’s largest supplier of goods. The EU has particularly stepped up its steel-related trade actions,
with its producers under pressure from a global overproduction crisis.
China has been accused of exacerbating the situation with unfairly cheap exports and subsidies that allow its manufacturers to grow despite the lack of demand. The European Commission, the EU’s executive, had been investigating Chinese exports of high fatigue performance reinforcement bars – commonly known as HFP rebars – since 2015, after receiving a complaint from EU steel producers.
The steel product is widely used for reinforcing concrete in constructions, according to the commission.
“The EU can impose anti-dumping duties on products from third countries if an investigation demonstrates that these products enter the EU at dumped prices that cause injury to the EU industry,” the Brussels institution said in a statement.
Chinese exporters of HFP rebars will henceforth have to pay tariffs ranging from 18.4% to 22.5%.
The measures apply for five years.
The EU now has in place 37 trade defence measures on the imports of steel products, while 15 investigations are under way, according to the commission.