Canada slaps anti-dumping duties on Pakistani steels

KARACHI: Canadian government has slapped up to 58 percent anti-dumping duties on Pakistani steel exporters – a move that rarely happened for the country that often takes such measures to protect its local metal producers.

Canada Border Services Agency imposed provisional duty on imports of carbon steel welded pipe from Pakistan after its inquiry found that the dumping “caused injury or is threatening to cause injury to the domestic (Canadian) industry”.

“Provisional duties will now be payable on the subject goods that are released from customs on or after October 18, 2018,” the agency said in a statement. The provisional duty was imposed at 10.1 percent for International Industries Limited (IIL) and 58 percent for other exporters in Pakistan.

“Despite this, there is no financial exposure to IIL for any of our exports to date to Canada,” International Industries said in a statement to the Pakistan Stock Exchange. “Although our sales to Canada continue for the time being, there may be a slowdown in sales depending to the final injury findings issued by CITT (Canadian International Trade Tribunal) in February 2019.”

Analysts said steel exports to Canada are insignificant. Yet, steelmakers could bear the brunt, they added.

International Industries said it has engaged “experienced legal counsel both in Pakistan and in Canada to aggressively contest the said inquiries initiated by CBSA (Canadian Border Services Agency) and CITT and are confident of a positive outcome”.

Pakistan is largely an iron and steel consumer and it imported $5.4 billion of metal imports, accounting for almost 10 percent of annual import bill. Of metal group, iron, steel and scrap consumed four billion dollars of foreign reserves.

The country is, however, seeing a double-digit growth in steel production. The country’s crude steel output climbed nearly 40 percent to five million tons in 2017 due to growing demand for infrastructure and residential developments, according to the World Steel Association. The National Tariff Commission slapped anti-dumping duties on Chinese and other countries multiple times to safeguard the industry from price wars.

In May, the Canada Border Services Agency received a written complaint from Novamerican Steel Inc. on behalf of its subsidiaries Nova Tube Inc. and Nova Steel Inc., alleging that imports of certain carbon steel welded pipe from Pakistan, Philippines, Turkey, and Vietnam are being dumped.

The Canadian government informed Pakistan about the compliant in the following month. The complainant provided evidence to support the allegations that the pipes have been dumped. In September, the CITT made a preliminary determination that there is evidence that discloses a reasonable indication that the dumping of carbon steel welded pipe “has caused injury or is threatening to cause injury to the domestic industry,” the Canadian regulator said in the statement after conducting an investigation.