EU slaps anti-dumping duties on China, Taiwan steel

The EU announced today it will impose anti-dumping duties for six months on some steel imports from China and Taiwan as a new trade row erupted between Brussels and Beijing.
The tariffs will affect imports of flat-rolled stainless steel used to make products like washing machines, dishwashers, medical tools and automobiles.
The European Union and China have already clashed over the alleged dumping of products ranging from wine to solar panels to steel pipes.
Duties of around 25 per cent for the targeted Chinese firms, including industrial giant Baosteel, and 10 percent for the Taiwan companies will take effect from Thursday, the European Union Official Journal said.

"In the absence of measures, the dumped imports from the countries concerned will continue to force Union industry to sell at loss-making prices," the journal said.
Chinese and Taiwanese companies that cooperated with the EU investigation are excluded from the duties.

Following the news, the share prices of European steelmakers surged on the continent's stock markets, before slowing later.
Aperam, whose main shareholder is the Mittal family, was up 3.1 per cent in afternoon trading in Amsterdam and Spain's Acerinox climbed 1.5 percent in Madrid.
But shares in Finland's Outokumpu were down 0.65 after having traded up over two percent in the morning.

The EU opened the investigation on June 26 last year after complaints from European competitors about the Chinese and Taiwanese firms.
Chinese companies targeted in the latest decision include Baosteel Stainless Steel Co, Shanghai, Ningbo Baoxin Stainless Steel Co, Ningbo, Shanxi Taigang Stainless Steel Co, Taiyun City and Tianjin TISCO and TPCO Stainless Steel Co, Tianjin City.
Taiwan firms include Chia Far Industrial Factory Co, Taipei City, Tang Eng Iron Works Co, Kaohsiung City and Yieh United Steel Corporation, Kaohsiung City.
Total imports from China and Taiwan rose by 70 per cent between 2010 and the period of the investigation from mid-2014 and early 2015, while the market share increased by 63 percent, the European Commission said.