(Bloomberg) — Japan and South Korea are the latest countries to impose anti-dumping measures on Chinese steel products, amid growing global opposition to the country’s cheaper raw materials.
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Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is expanding the scope of anti-dumping duties to cover Chinese steel, among other products routed through third countries. Meanwhile, South Korea said Thursday it has launched an anti-dumping investigation into imports of stainless steel sheets made in China.
The actions come as concerns grow in some countries about the impact of cheap goods coming from the world’s largest producer nation. The US announced higher tariffs on Chinese steel earlier this year, while South American countries also raised taxes on the same steel.
China’s steel industry has been cutting output, with production down more than 3% in the first eight months of 2024 compared with the same period last year. But the domestic slowdown means that even with that reduction, there is too much metal for the local economy to absorb, pushing steel exports up more than 20% in the same period.
Officials in Seoul reported that a local company claimed that Chinese products were being sold below market value.
Meanwhile, Japan’s trade agency is considering approaching the Finance Ministry before the end of this month, when all government agencies submit their requests for tariff revisions in the next fiscal year. The country’s largest steelmaker, Nippon Steel Corp., had said it was lobbying the government along with other local companies to impose measures on Chinese imports of the construction metal.
–With assistance from Sam Kim, James Mayger, and Tsuyoshi Inajima.
(Corrects China’s steep production and exports in the penultimate paragraph.)
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