On Thursday 26 January, the European Commission adopted a regulation establishing definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of certain stainless steel tube and pipe butt-welding fittings, whether or not finished, originating in China and Taiwan.
The Commission's investigation opened following a complaint lodged on 14 September 2015 by the Defence Committee of the Stainless-Steel Butt-welding Fittings Industry of the European Union on behalf of producers representing between 37% and 48% of total EU production. It confirmed that stainless steel tube and pipe butt-welding fittings originating in China and Taiwan were sold in Europe at dumped prices.
Chinese exports of these fittings will now be hit by anti-dumping duties ranging from 30.7% to 64.9%, while Taiwanese exports will face anti-dumping duties ranging from 5.1% to 12.1%.
The fittings are used to join pipes and tubes of stainless steel, and are commonly used in various industries (petro-chemical, shipbuilding, energy generation, construction and food processing).
With these new anti-dumping duties, the EU now has an unprecedented number of trade defence measures in place targeting unfair imports of steel products, with a total of 39 anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures, 17 of which are on products originating from China. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)