South Korea initiates investigation into imports of hot-rolled coils from China and Japan

South Korea plans to launch an official investigation into allegations of dumped imports of hot-rolled carbon and alloy steel (HRC) coils from Japan and China. This was reported by MySteel Global.

The complaint was filed in December 2024 by Hyundai Steel, the country’s second-largest steel producer. The company claimed that its business suffered material damage due to unfair trade practices in the export of HRC from these countries.

In its petition, Hyundai Steel claimed that the prices of imported coils on the domestic retail market were 10-30% lower than the prices of the products from itself and POSCO. However, the full scope of the investigation, including the preliminary anti-dumping margin, will not be known until the information is released upon completion of the investigation. At the same time, analysts are also interested in knowing whether POSCO and other steelmakers have joined Hyundai Steel’s claims.

The Trade Commission under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of South Korea (MOTIE) will launch an investigation after the publication of relevant information in the official gazette on March 4.

According to the General Administration of Customs of China, last year exports of hot-rolled steel to South Korea decreased by 8.1% y/y – to 1.61 million tons, while its total volume on the global market increased by 31.1% y/y – to 27.47 million tons.

At the same time, Seoul’s initiation of an investigation into Japanese hot-rolled coils has caused concern in Tokyo. According to the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (JISF), Japan exported 1.42 million tons of HRC to South Korea in the first ten months of the current fiscal year (April 2024-January 2025), down 10.6% year-on-year. However, this country was the largest buyer, accounting for 9.9% of total exports of this product.

As GMK Center reported earlier, South Korea is imposing temporary anti-dumping duties on Chinese companies for imports of plates used in shipbuilding and construction. The tariff rate will range from 27.91% to 38.02%.