Stainless steel duties broadened: EU targets Taiwan, Turkey, Vietnam

On May 7, the European Commission countered the circumvention of its anti-subsidy measures on cold-rolled stainless steel (SSCR) from Indonesia by extending the measures to also cover imports from Taiwan, Türkiye and Vietnam.

The extensions of measures follow two parallel anti-circumvention investigations which showed that cold-rolled stainless steel from Indonesia – on which there are currently anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties – was making its way to the EU after limited processing in Taiwan, Türkiye and Vietnam. No economic justification was found for this practice other than the avoidance of anti-dumping duties on imports from Indonesia.

Cracking down on circumvention
The extended anti-subsidy duties have been set at 20.5%, while the extended anti-dumping duties have been set at 19.3%. Genuine producers of cold-rolled stainless steel from Taiwan, Türkiye and Vietnam are exempt from the measures.

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

The reaction of the European Steel Association
The European Steel Association (EUROFER) welcomes this move and “recognizes these extensions of the measures applied to SSCR from Indonesia as another important step towards restoring a level playing field for the European stainless industry.” “The Commission’s investigation has confirmed that a significant circumvention is taking place through imports from Taiwan, Turkey and Vietnam”, said Axel Eggert, Director General of the European Steel Association (EUROFER), “The anti-circumvention measures (...) are important to ensure the complete effectiveness of the original measures and to avoid that artificially cheap, dumped, and subsidized semi-products (stainless slabs and hot rolled coils) sourced from Indonesia freely enter the European market, endangering the European Stainless Steel industry.”

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Image source: worldsteel.org