Commenting on the petition filed by the US-based producers for an antidumping duty investigation against imports of rebar from Japan, Taiwan, and Turkey, and a countervailing duty investigation into imports of rebar from Turkey, Veysel Yayan, the general secretary of Turkish Steel Producers’ Association (TCUD) said that there are no grounds for the duty investigations to be resulted in actual duties. Mr. Yayan said that Turkey is the last country to face countervailing duty threats and it is out of the question for the Turkish steel industry to receive any government subsidies. He hopes that the US, whose credibility has already been undermined, will not make a decision that will damage its credibility further. The TCUD official stated that if the investigations will result in duties, Turkish rebar producers will continue to sell to their already established export markets and they may also turn to their domestic market which shows signs of improvement.
Emphasizing that they are always in favor of the free trade, Mr. Yayan said that considering the aggressive stance of the US and the EU in trade cases, Turkey’s insufficient attempts to protect its own market is causing difficulties in the steel industry.