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.