China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Monday it will conduct a final review of anti-dumping measures on imports of stainless steel billets and hot-rolled stainless steel plates from the European Union (EU), Britain, South Korea, and Indonesia.

The review, which starts on Tuesday, will examine whether lifting the anti-dumping measures will lead to the resumption of activities that harm the domestic steel industry, the ministry said in a statement.

China, the world’s largest stainless steel producer and consumer, accounts for around 60% of global supply and demand.

The review, which is set to end after a year, was made in response to a request in April from some Chinese stainless steel mills including the state-owned Shanxi Taigang Stainless Steel 000825.SZ, who want to keep the current measures for another five years, the ministry said.

Beijing imposed anti-dumping duties ranging from 18.1% to 103.1% on the stainless steel products from the EU, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia from July 23, 2019 for a five-year period.

The ministry said it would maintain the existing anti-dumping measures for relevant stainless steel products from the EU, the UK, South Korea and Indonesia while it was conducting the review.

Anti-dumping duties on stainless steel imports from Japan, at between 18.1% and 29%, will be lifted on Tuesday given that there is no request for a review of these duties, it added.

Stainless steel billets and hot-rolled stainless steel plates are mainly used to make cold-rolled stainless steel products in shipbuilding, containers, rail, power, and other industries.

China manufactured 36.68 million metric tons of stainless crude steel products in 2023, up 12.6% from a year earlier, data from Stainless Steel Council of China Iron and Steel Association showed.

Source: XM