Commentary on US AD measures against Chinese HR

SteelOrbis Shanghai In connection with the topical antidumping issue - on the agenda in recent days with the USA expressing its discontent over hot rolled sheet imports from China to the US - the dominant perspective in the Chinese steel industry indicates that the situation is in reality not so damaging for the US mills. From China's perspective, the United States always claims to be opposed to trade protectionism, but as one of the countries that has implemented the most AD policies on overseas steel products, they have actually done quite a good job in rejecting steel imports. In the past, the US government has conducted AD inspections on almost all large-quantity steel product imports from China, including HR products, medium plate, rebar, silicon iron, coke etc, which to date have not been able to gain access to the US market. On December 5, 2006, the US Department of Commerce decided to continue its AD policy against hot rolled products from China. The final weighted-average dumping margin for HR products is 12.39 percent for Baosteel, 31.09 percent for Angang, and 57~90 percent for other Chinese mills, thus completely blocking China's HR exports to the US market. Looking at the situation since 2003, we see that the US AD actions did not have a great impact on the Chinese mills. This was because with domestic hot rolled in short supply, China was a big HR importer during the period from 2003 up to the first half of 2005. In August 2005, the EU canceled its AD measures against hot rolled products from China, thereby opening up another door for China's steel exports. The following year, the US demand for steel rose dramatically due to the boom in the world economy. Although China cannot enter the US market, Brazil, Mexico, and the CIS countries focused on exports to the US, thus giving up part of their market shares in Southeast Asia to China.