Trade: Commission continues to level the playing field for EU steel producers

Today, the European Commission imposed anti-dumping duties on steel road wheels from China. These provisional duties ranging from 50.3% to 66.4% will be in place for a period of 6 months pending the final outcomes of the investigation. The EU market in this case was worth an estimated €800 million in 2018, with EU industry directly employing 3,600 people, mostly in Germany, France, Spain, Czechia, Italy, Romania and Poland. Also today, the Commission initiated an investigation on imports of hot-rolled stainless steel sheets and coils from China and Indonesia. An anti-dumping investigation on the same products from Indonesia, and Taiwan is already under way since August. The EU hot-rolled stainless steel sheets and coils market was worth an estimated €2.4 billion in 2018. Imports account for around €866 million, of which €458 million from China, €98 million from Taiwan and €76 million from Indonesia. The investigation aims to find out whether they may constitute an unfair competition for EU companies located in Belgium, Finland, France, Italy and Spain that directly employ some 2,300 people. The EU has over 50 anti-dumping and anti-subsidy trade defence measures in place on iron and steel products. Safeguard measures on various steel products, adjusted as from October 2019, remain in place to prevent serious injury for the EU steel industry caused by increased imports and trade diversion.