EU imposes definitive AD duty on certain HR flat products from four countries

The European Commission (EC) has announced its imposition of a definitive antidumping (AD) duty on imports of certain hot rolled flat products of iron, non-alloy or other alloy steel originating in Brazil, Iran, Russia and Ukraine and has terminated the investigation on imports of same the products originating in Serbia.

Accordingly, the commission has calculated definitive antidumping duty rates between €96.5/mt and €17.6/mt for the mentioned imports from the four countries.

The investigation was launched in July last year upon a complaint received from the European Steel Association (EUROFER).

The products subject to definitive AD duties currently fall within CN 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, ex 7225 19 10, 7225 30 90, ex 7225 40 60, 7225 40 90, ex 7226 19 10, 7226 91 91 and 7226 91 99.

Regarding these duties, Axel Eggert, director general of the European Steel Association (EUROFER), has stated that fixed duties are better than the absurdity of having a single minimum import price (MIP) for a product that comes in thousands of different grades. This whole episode weakens the antidumping procedure even as the EU seeks to successfully modernize its Trade Defense Instruments and make measures more, instead of less, effective, Mr. Eggert added.