Trade agency the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC) has, following an investigation into alleged dumping of steel products from the People’s Republic of China, determined that dumping of products originating in or imported from China is taking place.
The South African Coil Coaters Association (SACCA or the Applicant), an industry body of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) industry, lodged an application for an anti-dumping investigation on flat-rolled products of iron or non-alloy steel, of a width of 600mm or more, otherwise plated or coated with zinc, of a thickness of less than 0.45mm, classifiable under tariff subheading HS 7210.49.10, originating in or imported from the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
SACCA members were, at the time of the submission of the application, ArcelorMittal South Africa Limited (AMSA), Safal Steel (Pty) Ltd (Safal), and Duferco Steel Processing (Duferco). Together they constituted 100% of SACU domestic production of the subject product. AMSA is the major producer of the subject product and provided material injury information.
ITAC was provided with written and oral information by the applicant and interested parties, together with the verified producer/exporter’s information, and responses thereto.
Questionnaire responses were received from two producers/exporters in the PRC. Joint comments were received from three companies in the SACU that are not importing the subject product. The two exporters/producers are Shandong Tongsheng Composite Material Co., Ltd., (Tongsheng); and Shandong Guanxian Rongda Composite Material Co., Ltd. (Rongda).
Comments were received from the following interested parties: The Applicant, South African Iron and Steel Institute (SAISI), National Employers’ Association of South Africa (NEASA), Safal, Duferco, Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), SS Profiling (Pty) Ltd, Steelworld Roofing Systems (Pty) Ltd and Inter Steel (Pty) Ltd.
The Commission considered all the relevant information available at its disposal, in particular, that related to dumping, material injury and causality. The Commission made a final determination that:
• dumping of the subject product originating in or imported from the PRC is taking place;
• the SACU industry is experiencing material injury and;
• there is a causal link between the alleged dumped imports and the material injury experienced by the SACU industry.
The finding of dumping for each exporter/producer was based on the producer’s own information, and the finding of dumping for all other producers/exporters that did not cooperate was based on the best information available, being Tongsheng’s domestic sales information and import statistics from SARS.
The Commission made a final determination to recommend to the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition that definitive anti-dumping duties be imposed against imports of the subject product originating in or imported from the PRC.
Please click on the link to access the full Report 720: http://www.itac.org.za/upload/document_files/20240219115800_Report-No.-720-1.pdf