An expiry review investigation showed that injurious dumping would resume if measures were allowed to lapse. The renewal follows the extension of measures, on 3 March 2023, to fittings from Malaysia, after an anti-circumvention investigation had found that Chinese producers were using assembly operations there to evade measures applicable to them. Both sets of measures protect EU producers of stainless steel fittings – used to join pipes and tubes in industries including petrochemicals, beverage/food processing and construction – from unfair trading practices wherever these may come from, thereby securing over 500 EU jobs.
The extended anti-dumping duties range from 5.1% to 12.1% for Taiwan and from 30.7% to 64.9% for China. The duty rate extended to imports from Malaysia is 64.9%, with two genuine Malaysian producers being exempt from the measures.
The renewal of measures on imports from China and Taiwan is necessary to continue to ensure fair competition between imported and EU-produced fittings, while the extension of measures to Malaysia is necessary to ensure the efficacy of these measures against efforts to circumvent them.
The expiry review on imports from China and Taiwan found that dumping has continued and that both countries have significant spare capacity and an affinity for the EU market, which is worth €100 million annually. This dumping would likely intensify if measures were to lapse, with a recurrence of injury to Union industry.
Moreover, a related anti-circumvention investigation found that Chinese producers were already circumventing anti-dumping measures imposed on them: companies in Malaysia were importing the main parts needed to produce stainless steel fittings from China, processing them and subsequently exporting to the EU without paying any anti-dumping duties. No economic justification was found for this practice other than the circumvention of anti-dumping duties on imports from China.
For more information
Definitive measures
Extension of anti-dumping measures to stainless steel fittings from Malaysia
EU Trade Defence Policy
On June 11, 2021, Japan requested consultations with China with respect to measures imposing anti-dumping duties on stainless steel billets, hot-rolled coils, and hot-rolled plates from Japan.
Japan claimed that these measures appear to be inconsistent with:
• Articles 1, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 4.1, 6.5, 6.5.1, 6.9, 12.2, and 12.2.2 of the Anti-Dumping Agreement; and
• Article VI of the GATT 1994.
On August 19, 2021, Japan requested the establishment of a panel. At its meeting on August 30, 2021, the DSB deferred the establishment of a panel.
At its meeting on September 27, 2021, the DSB established a panel. Australia, Brazil, Canada, the European Union, India, Korea, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Chinese Taipei, the United States, and Viet Nam reserved their third-party rights.
On January 13, 2022, Japan requested the Director-General to compose the panel. On January 24, 2022, the Director-General composed the panel.