Turkey has commenced an investigation on material damage to local steel producers from the “dumping” of hot-rolled flat steel products from the European Union (EU) and South Korea, according to an official statement in the Resmî Gazete on Jan 9.
On hearing the news, some EU-based market participants told Davis Index that the move was likely a retaliatory measure following the European Union’s decision to impose 4.8-7.6pc on select Turkish steelmakers on Jan 7.
Uğur Dalbeler, deputy chairperson of Turkey’s Steel Exporters’ Association (CIB) claimed in a media interview that the EU’s anti-dumping duties on Turkish steel were “political” rather than factual given that European steel producers had been “lobbying” for these measures.
Dalbeler stated that “these decisions have not been based on any fact and have been taken only on political grounds because the steel producers in Europe have been putting tremendous pressure in Brussels for a long time.”
The products under investigation fall under the HS codes 7208.10.00, 7208.25.00, 7208.26.00, 7208.27.00, 7208.36.00, 7208.37.00, 7208.38.00, 7208.39.00, 7208.40.00, 7208.52.10, 7208.52.99, 7208.53.10, 7208.53.90, 7208.54.00, 7211.13.00, 7211.14.00, 7211.19.00, 7212.60.00, 7225.19.10, 7225.30.10, 7225.30.30, 7225.30.90, 7225.40.15, 7225.40.90, 7226.91.20, 7226.91.91, and 7226.91.99.
Turkey’s Ministry of Trade launched the probe after finding “sufficient” evidence that alloyed or unalloyed hot-rolled flat steel (except plate) not subjected to any coating process had been unfairly “dumped” after examining complaints made by Erdemir, Çolakoğlu, Habaş, Tosçelik, and Isdemir.
The Ministry of Trade noted that the EU and South Korean origin hot-rolled flat steels had broken and “suppressed” domestic prices of the same grades in the full year of 2018 and from October 2019 to September 2020.
Turkey’s HRC* import from EU and S. Korea (mt)
| 2018 | 2019 | Jan-Nov 2020 | |
| Austria | 12,402 | 11,020 | 12,222 |
| Belgium | 96,715 | 93,853 | 112,414 |
| Bulgaria | 6,749 | 9,842 | 4,917 |
| Croatia | 15 | 3,209 | 1,092 |
| Czech Republic | 12 | 19 | 100 |
| Denmark | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Finland | 3,836 | 16,887 | 1,010 |
| France | 486,318 | 670,191 | 554,665 |
| Germany | 258,276 | 259,407 | 127,103 |
| Greece | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Hungary | 173 | 7 | 0 |
| Italy | 30,414 | 133,694 | 81,157 |
| Lithuania | 0 | 0 | 1,674 |
| Luxemburg | 21 | 6 | 49 |
| Netherlands | 128,411 | 207,582 | 173,162 |
| Poland | 22,990 | 533 | 448 |
| Portugal | 6 | 3 | 0 |
| Romania | 66,821 | 148,762 | 82,599 |
| Slovak Republic | 31,191 | 6,785 | 6,059 |
| Slovenia | 78 | 74 | 64 |
| South Korea | 119,271 | 63,999 | 245,582 |
| Spain | 113,959 | 86,673 | 26,591 |
| Sweden | 16,683 | 11,812 | 29,513 |
| Total | 1,394,345 | 1,724,358 | 1,460,422 |
- * Includes only the HS codes under Turkey’s AD investigation
Source: SteelData