The European Commission imposes duties to counter Chinese steel subsidies

The Commission decided today to impose definitive anti-subsidy measures on imports from China of certain hot-rolled flat steel products (HRF).

It established that the Chinese government is supporting its steel industry through considerable subsidies, including preferential lending, tax rebates and other financial injections.

These subsidies have allowed the Chinese companies to sell hot rolled flat steel at artificially low prices on the EU market. This unfair competition has been creating a threat of imminent injury for the EU producers, whose profitability had sharply decreased by the end of 2015. In order to remove such threat, the Commission has today decided to impose definitive countervailing duties of up to 35.9%.

Since the adoption of the Commission’s Steel communication of 16 March 2016, the EU has put 12 anti-dumping measures in place, most of which cover products from China. The current decision looks for the first time in our current fight against steel overcapacity at Chinese government subsidies and found many different ways by which the Chinese government unfairly supports its exporters. Accordingly, the Commission decided on a significant rate of countervailing duties.

The Commission is using its available toolbox of trade defence instruments to the full extent possible. In addition, the EU is tackling the root causes of overcapacity in the global steel industry through active involvement in the Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity launched last December.

More information is available in the EU official journal .