EC opposes the circumvention of safeguard measures on stainless steel plates from Indonesia

The European Commission has extended anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures against cold-rolled flat stainless steel products (SSCR) originating in Indonesia to imports of these products from Taiwan, Turkey and Vietnam. This is stated in the report of the institution.

The expansion of measures took place after two parallel investigations showed that cold-rolled stainless steel from Indonesia, which is currently subject to anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties, entered the EU after limited processing in Taiwan, Turkey and Vietnam.

«No economic justification was found for this practice, other than to avoid anti-dumping duties on imports from Indonesia,» the report said.

Therefore, the EC extended the existing 19.3% anti-dumping duty rate to imports of SSCR from Taiwan and Vietnam and the current 20.5% countervailing duty rate to imports of these products from Taiwan, Turkey and Vietnam. These measures do not apply to genuine producers of cold-rolled stainless steel from these three countries.

The anti-dumping duties on stainless steel plates from Indonesia amount to 9.3-20.2%, while the countervailing duties are 0-21.4%.

The market for cold-rolled stainless steel in the EU, which is used in the production of household appliances and furniture, is worth more than €6 billion annually.

According to Axel Eggert, Director General of the European Steel Association (EUROFER), the Commission’s investigation confirmed that significant circumvention is taking place through imports from Taiwan, Turkey and Vietnam.

«The announced anti-circumvention measures are important to ensure the full effectiveness of the initial measures and to avoid artificially cheap, dumped and subsidized semi-finished products (stainless slabs and hot-rolled coils) from Indonesia from entering the European market freely, endangering the European stainless steel industry,» he said.

According to the association’s statement, given the seriousness of the detected circumvention methods, the EC is introducing new import requirements. Strict monitoring of imports from Taiwan, Turkey and Vietnam will be applied, in particular to determine whether the products are made of steel smelted and cast in Indonesia. EUROFER intends to continue to work closely with the European Commission and the relevant authorities in its Member States.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in August last year, the EC initiated two investigations into the possible circumvention of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy (countervailing) measures imposed on imports of cold rolled stainless steel flat products (SSCR) originating in Indonesia. The investigation was requested in July 2023 by EUROFER.