EU imposes stainless steel duties after imports probe

The European Commission has extended definitive countervailing duties on stainless steel cold rolled flat product imports originating in Indonesia, to material produced in Taiwan, Turkey, and Vietnam.

A standard duty of 20.5% will be imposed on specified imported material from these countries after the Commission revealed the findings of its investigation into the potential circumvention of the existing Indonesian countervailing (CVD) measures. 

The investigation, which covered a period from January 1, 2020, to June 30, 2023, determined that imports from these countries had circumvented the countervailing duty on Indonesian stainless steel cold rolled (SSCR) flat products.  

The European Commission will now extend the existing Indonesian CVD measures to imports of SSCR flat products from Taiwan, Turkey, and Vietnam. 

MEPS International steel market analyst, Jonathan Carruthers-Green, said: “Buyers are not likely to welcome this ruling as it decreases import opportunities at a time when everyone is struggling with tight margins.  

“Having said this, at least there is now some resolution. The investigation has been the talk of the market since it was first announced in August last year. There has been a lot of uncertainty amongst traders who have been concerned that they may need to seek new sources of material.” 

Definitive countervailing duties, ranging between 0% and 21.4%, with a residual duty of 20.5% for non-cooperating Indonesian companies, were initially imposed on Indonesian-origin SSCR flat products in 2022. 

Altered trade patterns

However, concerns arose regarding the circumvention of these measures through assembly operations in other countries. 

The European Commission’s investigation, initiated in response to a request from the European Steel Association (Eurofer), subsequently found sufficient evidence of altered trade patterns following the imposition of duties on Indonesian SSCR flat products.  

Assembly operations in Taiwan, Turkey, and Vietnam were identified as potential circumvention methods. In some cases, it was found that Indonesian material comprised over 60% of the assembled product's value. 

The Commission said that its investigation period revealed import volumes from Taiwan to the EU had surged following the initiation of antidumping and antisubsidy investigations into Indonesian stainless steel. Similar trends were observed in Turkey and Vietnam. 

The Commission's investigation rejected arguments that no change to trade patterns, or significant increases in imports from the countries concerned, had occurred. 

It affirmed that the assembly operations met the criteria set out in Article 13(2) of the basic antisubsidy regulation, covering practices where semi-finished inputs are processed into finished products. 

To bolster import requirements and monitor the origin of imported SSCR in future, the Commission will now add a declaration to mill certificates specifying whether the stainless steel originated in Indonesia. 

Despite the findings of the European Commission’s anticircumvention investigation, several stainless steel producers will be exempt from the new duties imposed by the Commission. 

Listed below are the exempt companies which, despite buying part of their feedstock material from Indonesia, did not start or substantially increase this activity following the initiation of the original AD investigation.  

Taiwan 

Yieh United Steel Corporation - Tang Eng Iron Works Co Ltd (Yusco Group) 

Chia Far Industrial Factory Co., Ltd 

Yuan Long Stainless Steel Corp 

Tung Mung Development Co., Ltd 

Walsin Lihwa Corporation 

Turkey 

Posco Assan TST Celik Sanayi A.S. 

Vietnam 

Posco VST Co., Ltd 

Other companies that were part of the Commission's investigations had their claims for an exemption rejected. Therefore, a duty of 20.5% will apply to the following: 

Turkey  

Trinox Metal Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S 

Vietnam  

Lam Khanh Joint Stock Company 

Yongjin Metal Technology (Vietnam) Company Limited