Cold-rolled steel, used in the packaging, white goods, automotive and construction industries, will be taxed at between 19.7% to 22.1% for imports from China and between 18.7% to 36.1% for imports from Russia for the next five years to stop the nations’ industries from flooding Europe with cheap steel.
For the first time, producers from the two countries will also be levied retroactively on imports registered during the two months before provisional measures against dumping were imposed by the European Commission last February.
The commission said that “in the wake of the global steel overcapacity crisis”, it was “applying the trade defence instruments to re-establish a level playing field between EU and foreign producers”.
Some Chinese and Russian producers of cold-rolled steel have been accused of undercutting European producers by selling their surplus steel at well below market prices. Rival producers say this results in job losses and factory closures.
In May, the US also slapped a 522% tax on Chinese steel, increasing the tariff fivefold, after accusing the nation of distorting the market with cheap product.
In a statement on its website responding to the EU’s measures, China’s ministry of commerce said the tariffs increased legal uncertainty, seriously affected normal international trade and weakened the competitiveness of EU manufacturing.
It said the EU should “avoid the abuse of trade remedy measures” and “sending the wrong signal to the outside world”. China, it continued, stood ready to work with the EU to “properly solve” the problems facing the steel industry.
