- Japan launches anti-dumping probe into cheap steel imports from China and Taiwan.
- Imports reportedly priced up to 50% lower, harming Japanese producers.
- The outcome could impose duties to protect the domestic steel industry.
Japan's trade and finance ministries announced the initiation of an anti-dumping investigation concerning nickel-based stainless cold-rolled steel sheets and strips imported from China and Taiwan.
The action comes after a petition submitted on May 12 by Nippon Steel and other local producers, who argue they have had to decrease prices because of declining domestic demand, as purchasers have turned to less expensive imports.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, along with the Ministry of Finance, aims to finish the investigation within a year and subsequently determine if anti-dumping duties will be applied.
Based on the application provided by the steel manufacturers, imported goods were being offered in Japan at rates 20 percent to 50 percent cheaper than in China and 3 percent to 20 percent less than in Taiwan.
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Japanese steel producers claim that they cannot establish prices that capture increasing costs, resulting in reduced operating profits and other losses. The overproduction and exportation by Chinese steel manufacturers have raised global apprehension.
Japan is one of several nations that have condemned Chinese firms for obtaining government support to generate surplus steel and subsequently selling it at low prices, exacerbating worldwide market conditions. Although various nations have enacted anti-dumping measures or comparable actions targeting China, Japan has not taken similar steps.
Tadashi Imai, the chairman of the Japan Iron and Steel Federation and president of Nippon Steel, has consistently cautioned that the worldwide increase in protectionism might expose Japan to cheap steel imports, threatening local manufacturing. REUTERS