On October 6, the European Union announced the imposition of definitive antidumping duties on Chinese seamless pipe ranging from 17.7 percent to 39.2 percent after its final ruling of the threat of material injury to the European industry from Chinese pipe imports. In response, an official at China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) has expressed regret and dissatisfaction over the move taken by the EU and stated that China will resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese steel enterprises.
The MOC official began by saying that China has stated repeatedly that the threat of material injury is strictly defined by the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules and is rarely cited as a reason for antidumping rulings as WTO members are "highly prudent" in dealing with such cases.
The MOC official went on to say that many facts and figures had proved that Chinese steel pipe exports to the EU were decided by market conditions and had not affected steelmakers in the EU. It was "regrettable" that the EU had made its decision regardless of the facts and figures in question, the MOC spokesperson said.
The official also emphasized that, against the background of the current global economic crisis, with its final ruling the EU failed to keep its commitment to oppose protectionism which it made at the G20 summit, thereby not only hurting the actual interests of the Chinese industry, but also damaging the overall interests of the EU. In this context, the official stated, China would resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese steel enterprises.
Meanwhile, the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) has commented that the EU's move has set a bad precedent of protectionism in global steel trading, causing great harm to the Chinese steel industry and its seamless pipe makers. The CISA said that in its active communication with the Ministry of Commerce it would strongly call for legal actions to be taken by the Chinese government to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese steel industry and domestic seamless pipe makers.
According to the figures released by the European Commission, the two new antidumping investigations initiated by the EU in the first half of 2009 both targeted Chinese products. Since the month of August, the EU has initiated three antidumping investigations against Chinese imports to the Europe. It is also heard that the EU is now planning to launch more trade remedy investigations against Chinese products.
Currently, there are around 50 antidumping measures still in effect taken by the EU against Chinese imports, of which about ten have been extended continuously following sunset reviews.
According to the latest MOC statistics, 17 countries and regions initiated 79 trade remedy investigations against China in the first eight months of this year, involving a total value of $10.035 billion.
Just one day after the EU's imposition of antidumping duties on Chinese seamless pipes, the US Department of Commerce (DOC) announced its decision to initiate antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations on imports of seamless pipe from China. The highest antidumping duty could be up to 98.37 percent, plus the countervailing duty imposed.