Escalating Tensions: Turkey Continues Anti-Dumping of Hot Rolled Steel Plates from China
Steel NewsDate: 02-06-2023 by: Ngan Le
The global steel trade conflict is increasingly exploding with trade defense lawsuits. Recently, Turkey has announced that it will continue to impose anti-dumping duties on hot-rolled steel plates originating from China, this is considered a new escalation in the trade conflict in terms of hot-rolled steel products between the two countries.
1. Overview of the Türkiye imposed an anti-dumping tax on Chinese steel
According to statistics from the World Steel Association, Turkey has always been considered as one of the significant steel factories in the world and this country has specific effects on the global steel supply chain.
Steel has always been one of the critical economic sources in Turkey, however, each year Turkey has to import a significant amount of steel from other countries in order to meet the domestic demand for steel. Specifically, since 2015, hot-rolled flat steel imported from China has always accounted for a large proportion of the market share of steel imports in Türkiye. Thanks to its low price and abundant steel production capacity, China naturally becomes the second largest steel importer here (after Russia), which has helped China gradually dominate the output market share and make it competitive for domestic manufacturers.
Turkey's Ministry of Economic Affairs decided to open a preliminary investigation on anti-dumping on hot rolled flat steel in December 2016 after strict requirements from the domestic steel corporation. After nearly a year of investigation, officially on November 29, 2017, the Turkish side announced an anti-dumping tax on Chinese hot-rolled flat steel products at 16.9%- 22.6%.
Following international principles, anti-dumping duty will be practical for 5 years from the decision to impose the tax. When Turkey imposed anti-dumping duty took place in 2017, so on October 22, 2022, the Turkish authorities announced that they would review the investigation and continue to apply the anti-dumping duty definitively on Chinese hot-rolled flat steel.
2. Vietnam's role in tensions about importing steel between Turkey and China
Up to now, hot-rolled flat steel products originating in Vietnam have not been applied to anti-dumping duties by Turkish manufacturers. However, to avoid a sudden increase in imports which causes competitive pressure on the domestic steel industry, the Turkish Ministry of Economy has introduced temporary trade remedies to Vietnam.
Specifically, from 2018 onwards, flat-rolled steel imports will be subject to a quota of about 3.1 million tons. If the amount of substances exceeds the given limit, the item will be subject to an additional duty of 25%.
According to the newly updated data from Turkey Customs, in January 2023, Russia and China are still occupying the role of the two biggest players in the market share of steel imports here. Meanwhile, Vietnam accounts for only 0.003%, it can be said that Vietnam's steel import output is still not enough to cause competition as well as create anxiety for domestic steel enterprises. Therefore, the steel import-export relationship between Vietnam and Turkey is always within a safe threshold and it is difficult to get involved in disputes about trade remedies. Turkey has always been an ideal destination for a long-term hot-rolled steel plate import strategy for Vietnam and vice versa.
