On March 25, 2008 the European Commission (EC) received a complaint from the European Confederation of Iron and Steel Industries (EUROFER) concerning imports of wire rod including bars and rods, hot rolled, in irregularly wound coils, of iron, non-alloy steel or alloy steel other than stainless steel, originating in China, Moldova and Turkey on behalf of producers representing a major proportion, in this case more than 57 percent, of total wire rod production in the EU.
On May 8, 2008, a proceeding was initiated by the EC, with the investigation of dumping and injury covering the period from April 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008.
According to the findings, imports into the EU of wire rod from China and Moldova increased from 739,615 mt in 2006 to 1,431,628 mt in the investigation period. Meanwhile, the market share of the product in question increased from 3.3 percent to 6.3 percent from 2006 up to the end of the period of investigation.
As a result of the preliminary findings that the imports of the subject merchandise were priced fairly low, the EC has determined to impose provisional antidumping (AD) duty rates on the Chinese and Moldovan producers involved in this case. The rates of provisional AD duty shall be as follows:
Country | Company | Duty |
Valin Group | 8.6% | |
All other companies | 24.6% | |
All companies | 3.7% |
Meanwhile, no provisional AD duties are to be imposed on wire rod imports originating in Turkey.