Japan slaps preliminary ADs on Ni-stainless CR imports from Chinese mainland, Taiwan

In a joint statement following the announcement, the heads of the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (JISF), Special Steel Association of Japan, and Japan Stainless Steel Association welcomed the ministries' decision. "The Japanese steel industry will urge the government to promptly implement provisional measures and to proceed swiftly toward a final decision in order to correct unfair imports as soon as possible," they said.

The process of actually applying the penalties involves actions of other sections of government, so the duties might kick-in next month at the earliest, a JISF official explained.

On July 22 last year, METI and MOF had jointly announced that they were initiating an AD investigation into the Ni-based coil, sheet, and strip originating in the Chinese mainland and Taiwan under HS codes 7219.31, 7219.32, 7219.33, 7219.34, 7219.35, 7219.90, 7220.20, and 7220.90, as reported.

They were responding to a complaint submitted two months earlier by domestic makers Nippon Steel, Nippon Yakin Kogyo, NAS Stainless Steel Strip MFG and Nippon Kinzoku, whose combined output is more than 50% of total Japanese production.

The companies had argued that due to low import prices and the rise in tonnage of the stainless flats, "material injury to the domestic industry has occurred, including a decrease in operating profits." The mills had calculated a dumping margin of 20% to 50% on products imported from the Chinese mainland – the difference in price between the normal value of the CR flats and nominated price in Japan – and 3% to 20% on those imported from Taiwan, as reported.

The preliminary duties announced last Friday closely align with the mills' nominated dumping margins, with the penalties placed on Chinese mainland-origin CR coils being in the range of 33.29%-45.32% and those on Taiwanese products of 3.86%-20.71%. The highest of 45.32% was imposed on POSCO Zhangjiagang Stainless Steel (PZSS), the 1.1 million tonnes/year stainless CR mill in East China. (POSCO last July sold its controlling 82% stake in PZSS to China's Tsingshan Holding Group, as reported.)

Among the Taiwanese exporters, market leader Yieh United Steel Corp (Yusco) was assigned a margin of 3.86%, while that on Walsin Lihwa Corp flats was the largest for Taiwan shippers at 20.71%.

In a separate announcement issued the same day, the Japanese ministries said they had decided to extend their investigation period by four months, moving the deadline for the final determination to November 21. "The purpose of this extension is to carefully review the evidence and relevant documents submitted by interested parties, while ensuring full transparency and fairness throughout the investigation process," the announcement said.

Whether by accident or design, the glacial pace of progress in this case – the Japanese mills had warned of soaring Ni stainless CRC imports since 2023 – has given the targeted exporters time to adjust.

During last fiscal year to end-March, Japanese Customs data show that although Japan's total import volume of nickel-based stainless steel had decreased by just 1.8% from the previous year to 173,723 tonnes, the volumes from the Chinese mainland had fallen by 11.7% to 71,000 tonnes and from Taiwan by 22% to 39,000 tonnes.

Unhappily for the Japanese mills, exporters in other countries such as South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, Thailand, and Malaysia have filled the void. For example, imports from South Korea last fiscal jumped by 24.2% to 44,000 tonnes, the data show.

Coincidentally, on June 11 Nippon Steel announced that it was raising domestic retail prices of its Ni-based CR stainless sheets and coils by Yen 25,000/tonne ($155/t) for current month contracts, taking its cumulative price increase for Ni-based products since last October to Yen 105,000/t.

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

Edited by Alyssa Ren, rentingting@mysteel.com