Malaysia imposes anti-dumping duties on HRC from China, Indonesia

Malaysia will impose anti-dumping duties on imports of hot rolled coils from China and Indonesia for five years from Saturday February 14.

Paragraph entered by Atlantic migration, in order for SteelFirst articles to display correctly on Metal Bulletin.

The duties, ranging from 2.49% to 25.40%, are the result of an investigation on producers and importers in Malaysia as well as producers/exporters from the alleged countries, its Ministry of International Trade & Industry (Miti) said on Friday February 13.

The move followed a petition filed by loss-making Megasteel – a unit of Lion Corp and Malaysia’s sole producer of HRC – on behalf of the domestic industry that alleged flat steel from China, Indonesia and South Korea of being dumped into the country.

Miti cleared South Korea of the claims as it found the volume of imports from that country to be at a “negligible level”.

All HRC imports from Indonesia will be taxed at a rate of 11.20%. The following duties apply for Chinese exporters:

Benxi Beiying Iron & Steel Group Imp and Exp Corp – 6.35%
Benxi Iron & Steel (Group) Int’l Economic & Trading Co – 3.49%
Rizhao Steel Wire Co –12.19%
Shanxi Taigang Stainless Steel Co – 2.49%
Others – 12.19%

Malaysia will also impose a 15.62% duty on Chinese chequered coils, and 25.40% on those from Indonesia.

Chinese pickled and oiled steel coils will be taxed 15.62%, while Indonesian imports will face a 20.56% duty.

“With the imposition of anti-dumping duties on imports of HRC from the alleged countries, it is expected that the issue of unfair trade practices will be addressed,” Miti said.

Last May, William Cheng, the executive chairman of the Lion Group – the parent company of Lion Corp – told the local press that Megasteel had been unable to compete due to cheap imports that was flooding the market. He disclosed the group’s intention to move to Indonesia if it did not receive import duty protection from the Malaysian government.