Brazilian steel association IABr told SteelOrbis on Wednesday it was disappointed to learn that the European Commission has imposed definite antidumping (AD) duties over Brazilian imports of HRC.
IABr criticized the decision saying the duties were applied with specific duties, when it could adopt the minimum price mechanism, as previously suggested.
The definite duty rate varies from EUR 53.4/mt for flats steelmaker Usiminas to EUR 63/mt for Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN) and all other Brazilian companies exporting HRC to Europe.
Duties for ArcelorMittal Brazil and Aperam South America were set at EUR 54.5/mt, while Gerdau will pay a EUR 55.8/mt tariff to export HRC to Europe.
“The measure makes Brazilian HRC exports to the European Union unfeasible,” IABr told SteelOrbis in a statement.
IABr said the duties should also affect intercompany transactions involving Brazil-based mills that have reprocessing units in Europe.
“In a moment the European Union and Brazil/Mercosur negotiate a free trade agreement to increase commercial trade between the two blocs, a measure like this should be seen as a step backward,” IABr said.