Colombia’s Ministry of Commerce has initiated a sunset review of its anti-dumping (AD) duty on U-shaped and L-shaped steel profiles imported from China. Colombian steelmakers have pleaded for additional safeguards amid the COVID-19 crisis and the overcapacity in China. Existing duty on such products will continue during the period of investigation. Investigating authorities will re-examine the evidence to determine injury to domestic industry and evaluate dumping charges on imports of products under HS codes 721610, 721621 and 722870.
Columbia had imposed AD duty on iron, alloy or non-alloy steel imports in L and U-shape, rolled or extruded from the People’s Republic of China following an anti-dumping investigation initiated in August 2017. Post the investigation and two rounds of provisional duties, Columbia imposed a definitive duty on such import on Aug 28, 2018 for two years. The rate of the anti-dumping duty is the difference between the fob base price set at $473.28/mt and the fob price declared by the importer, in which case the importer price is below the base price.
The petitioners for the anti-dumping duty are Diaco SA and Ternium Siderurgica De Caldas S.A.S. These companies contribute 98pc Columbia’s production of steel profiles. The petitioners have requested for an anti-dumping duty equivalent to the margin of dumping found in the investigation of an ad-valorem of 25.76pc instead of the current fob base price based duty.
Colombian steelmakers claim that the measures are necessary to safeguard domestic producers who are already suffering from the impact of the health and economic emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. They complained that China’s surplus steel capacity will be dumped through exports. The steelmakers stated that there are indications that absent the anti-dumping duty exports from China will increase as international prices of steel are 2015-2016 level when the steel industry faced its worst crisis.
In June, Colombia June produced an estimated 65,000mt crude steel compared to 120,000mt in June 2019, according to World Steel Association data. Steel produced fell by 45.9pc in the country amid the economic impact of the pandemic. In H1, Colombia’s steel output dropped by 29.4pc to 475,000mt from the prior year period.