South Korea formalizes ADs on Chinese stainless plate imports

The Korea Trade Commission (KTC) has decided to recommend that South Korea's economy and finance ministry formally impose anti-dumping duties of 21.62% on imports of hot-rolled stainless steel plates from China for the next five years.

In a statement issued on June 26 by Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) that oversees the KTC, the ministry said that the commission's probe had found that the dumping of the plates had caused "substantial" damage to the local industry, and asked that duties be applied on plates exported to Korea by several Chinese companies including Best Win International and Jiangsu Daekyung Stainless Steel, together with Hongkong-based Schuang International Development.

The duties apply to Chinese plates with a thickness of no less than 4.75mm and a width of no less than 600mm. The HS codes for the products involved are 7219.21.1010, 7219.21.1090, 7219.21.9000, 7219.22.1010, 7219.22.1090, and 7219.22.9000, as Mysteel Global reported.

In a preliminary ruling in early March, the finance ministry had imposed the same 21.62% provisional AD penalty for four months "to prevent further damage to the domestic industry during the investigation", also as reported.

The investigation had been initiated in response to a petition filed in June last year by Seoul-headquartered DK Corp, South Korea's only producer of stainless steel plate, which claimed that the Chinese plates were being sold at less than fair market value and had estimated a "dumping rate" by the companies involved of 6.32%.

DKC, founded in 1990, operates a 120,000 tonnes/year plant in Pohang on Korea's east coast producing both authentic and Duplex grade plates for use in petrochemicals and semiconductor manufacturing, in nuclear power and desalination plants, and similar facilities. POSCO holds an indirect 10% share in the firm.

Meanwhile, Korean daily Maeil Business News reports that the Korean steel industry is considering filing additional AD petitions against other Chinese steel products, "including galvanized and colour-coated steel sheets and specialty steel bars, following previous actions on heavy plates."

In February this year, the KTC had supported a petition filed by Hyundai Steel claiming that imports of carbon steel heavy plates from China had caused damage, and had recommended that ADs of as much as 38.02% be imposed, as reported.

Written by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com

Edited by Alyssa Ren, rentingting@mysteel.com