EU to review anti-dumping duties for HRC from Russia’s Severstal

The European Commission has started an investigation review of existing anti-dumping measures for hot-rolled coil produced by Russian steelmaker Severstal.

The investigation was opened after the European steel association lodged a request, according to a notice published in the Official Journal of the European Union on Monday January 18.

In October 2017, the EC imposed fixed charges in the range of €17.60-96.50 ($21.25-116.52) per tonne as a definitive trade defense measure in the case against HRC originating from Brazil, Iran, Russia and Ukraine. Duties set for the material produced by Russian steelmaker Severstal were the lowest at €17.60 per tonne, and the producer was the only Russian mills that continued to export HRC to Europe, market sources told Fastmarkets.

Russia exported 1.27 million tonnes of HRC to the European Union in the first 11 months of 2020, according to data published by Eurofer.

Eurofer provided evidence pointing to Severstal “having taken the strategic decision to change its operating business model and increase its export volumes to the EU. Import statistics appear to corroborate the increase in volumes. The applicant further provided evidence pointing to Severstal’s higher prices in the domestic market than in the export market, which appears to stem from the domestic market structure,” the EC said.

In addition, “a comparison of Severstal’s normal value and their export prices to the EU indicates that the dumping margin appears to be significantly higher than the dumping margin of 5.3% established in the original investigation. Moreover, the applicant also provided evidence pointing to Severstal having made plans to increase its capacity despite a weak domestic demand,” the EC added.

The products subject to this review are certain flat-rolled products of iron, non-alloy steel or other alloy steel, whether or not in coils (including ‘cut-to-length’ and ‘narrow strip’ products), not further worked than hot-rolled, not clad, plated or coated, originating in Russia, currently falling under CN codes 7208 10 00, 7208 25 00, 7208 26 00, 7208 27 00, 7208 36 00, 7208 37 00, 7208 38 00, 7208 39 00, 7208 40 00, 7208 52 10, 7208 52 99, 7208 53 10, 7208 53 90, 7208 54 00, 7211 13 00, 7211 14 00, 7211 19 00, ex 7225 19 10 (TARIC code 7225191090), 7225 30 90, ex 7225 40 60 (TARIC code 7225406090), 7225 40 90, ex 7226 19 10 (TARIC code 7226191090), 7226 91 91 and 7226 91 99.

The investigation is scheduled to end within 12-15 months from the date of the notice.