Govt re-imposes anti-dumping duties on Chinese, Ukrainian steel items

KARACHI: The government on Thursday re-imposed anti-dumping duties on steel products originating from China and Ukraine, increasing the rate up to around 20 percent for the five-year period. 

State-owned investigation authority National Tariff Commission (NTC), in a notice, stated that it had imposed definitive anti-dumping duties ‘retroactively’ in the range of 13.17 percent to 19.04 percent on cold rolled coils/sheets importable from China and Ukraine for a period of five years.  “However, it would not be levied on imports that are to be used as inputs in products destined solely for exports,” said the NTC.

In January last year, the commission slapped 8.31 and 19.04 percent anti-dumping on imports of cold-rolled coils and sheets from exporters based in China and Ukraine after a preliminary finding that they dumped two products during April 2014 to March 2015 into the country. Initially, the duties were for the four months. Later in June, however, the Lahore High Court barred the collection of provisional duties on CRC.

“In reaching this final determination, the commission is satisfied that the investigated product has been imported from the exporting countries at dumped prices,” said the NTC in its latest notice.

Analyst Adnan Sami Sheikh at Taurus Securities said the new rates are expected to be reviewed after one year. “But, I am not sure if the determination is again challenged,” Sheikh said. “Rather, Russian exporters might face the similar fate.” Currently, the NTC is also conducting anti-dumping investigation against alleged dumping of deformed concrete reinforcing steel bars from China.

In December last year, CRC price in the international market was quoted at $700 per ton. The CRC’s landed cost came about at Rs80 to 85,000 inclusive of all taxes. Now, after the imposition of anti-dumping duties the price would increase around 20 percent. 

Sources said the local producers were already racking up profits on December’s rate. “Now, they will have a room to further increase the prices,” a source said.  In July 2015, NTC had initiated the anti-dumping investigation into the steel imports after an application lodged by Aisha Steels Limited on behalf of the domestic steel industry, including International Steels Limited, the biggest CRC producer.

“The domestic industry producing cold rolled coils/sheets suffered material injury on account of increase in volume of dumped imports, price undercutting and depression, decline in market share, sales, capacity utilisation and return on investment, and negative effects on cash flow, inventories and ability to raise capital,” said the commission. A total of 13 steel producers from China and Ukraine is affected by the existing anti-dumping duties. 

Annual local production of CRC stands at 800,000 tonnes as against the local demand of around one million tonnes. 

“We believe this development bodes well for local CRC industry as it may support the volumes and strengthen the pricing power of local CRC manufacturers,” Topline Research said in a report. “We flag International Steel (ISL) and Aisha Steel with annual production capacities of 550,000 tonnes and 220,000 tonnes, respectively, to be the prime beneficiaries, while International Industries to be an indirect beneficiary as the concern has 56.33 percent owner interest in ISL.”