South Korea Imposes Anti-Dumping Duty on Stainless Steel Bars Import from Taiwan and Italy

The Korea Trade Commission (KTC) has ruled on Thursday (20 Sep’18) that the producers of stainless steel bars from Taiwan and Italy sold their products at unfairly low prices in the South Korean market and has subsequently violated South Korea’s anti-dumping law.

The KTC has recommended preliminary anti-dumping tariffs of 9.68% on products from Taiwan's Walsin Lihwa Corp., 18.56% on products from Gloria Material Technology Corp., and 13.27% on products from other Taiwanese companies.

The KTC has recommended preliminary anti-dumping tariffs ranging between 11.02% and 13.08% against Italian stainless steel bar sellers.

Stainless steel bars are used in a wide range of products, such as sophisticated precision equipment, auto parts, machinery, aircraft components, medical equipment and building materials.

South Korea launched an investigation into stainless steel bar makers from Taiwan and Italy on May 18 to determine if they were engaged in dumping practices from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017. This investigation was launched after the petition was filed by South Korean firms, including Dongil Steel Co. and SeAH Special Steel Corp., claiming that the cheap imports of stainless steel bars into South Korea were hurting their businesses.

Following its preliminary ruling, the KTC will continue its investigation over the next three months and hold public hearings in Nov’18 before issuing a final decision.

According to South Korea’s customs data, in 2017, Taiwan sold USD 25.95 million worth of stainless steel bars to South Korea, accounting for 17.97% of the country's total imports of the product. This made Taiwan second largest stainless steel exporter of South Korea following Japan which accounted for 24.32% share of imports in the category. Italy’s share in South Korea’s total stainless steel bars imports stood at 14.72% in 2017.

At present anti-dumping duties of 3.56%-15.39% are already levied on stainless steel bar imports from three countries including Japan, India and Spain.

source: SteelMint