The European Commission has announced that it has launched a new antidumping investigation on imports of tinplate from China.
The investigation was initiated following by the complaint filed by the European Steel Association (EUROFER) on April 2, 2024, alleging that imports of the product in question have increased substantially and are thereby causing material injury to the EU industry. EUROFER also provided evidence that imports of the given product from China have increased in terms of market share, indicating the likelihood of substantially increased imports. The investigation will cover the period between April 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024, and will take up to 14 months, with the possibility of provisional duties being imposed within seven to eight months.
The EC will determine whether the product under investigation originating in the country concerned is being dumped and whether the dumped imports have caused injury to the industry.
The products subject to antidumping investigation currently fall under Customs Tariff Statistics Position Numbers 7210701015, 7210708020, 7210708092, 7210908020, 7212402010, 7212408012, 7212408030, 7212408080, and 7212408085.
Following the announcement, EUROFER applauded the EC's decision, saying that this is an important step towards restoring a level playing field for the EU producers.
"Chinese mills have been flooding the EU market for at least the past four years with their overcapacities of tinplate at dumped prices, putting immense pressure on EU producers that were forced to reduce their prices regardless of the evolution of costs. As steel is at the core of many value chains, the impact of dumped steel products from third countries is not only a problem for our sector but is systemic for the wider EU economy and employment. The influx of cheap tinplate imports from China has already had serious repercussions on EU tinplate producers. In particular, besides squeezing profit margins, it has resulted in reduced production volumes, capacity utilization, and market share, therefore causing severe injury to EU steelmakers. The EU industry lost a quarter of its sales volume from 2021 to 2023, whereas the market share of EU consumption taken by Chinese imports more than doubled in the same period," Axel Eggert, director general of EUROFER, stated.
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