Following the meeting of the Steel Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the strong insistence of the steel industry on the damage that current overcapacity and unfair trade practices of China are causing to the global and Latin American steel markets, the Latin American Steel Association (Alacero) has stated that the governments of the region are beginning to act in favor of ensuring a level playing field in regional trade.
According to Alacero the World Trade Organization (WTO) gives tools that ensure a level field of competition, and governments should use and implement them in a timely and effective manner. Some Latin American governments are making decisions to address the problem of Chinese imports, as Alacero went on to say. However, it is necessary to strengthen and expand these actions because Chinese imports may be diverted to other Latin American countries that have not taken decisions such as those of Mexico and Peru imposing antidumping and countervailing duties on cold rolled and hot rolled steel sheet imports from China.
Alacero said that it again calls on every country in Latin America to guarantee a level playing field according to the regulations of the WTO. Nowadays, it is not possible for a private company to compete against the Chinese government and the steel companies it owns, it concluded.