China is, as of Saturday, to exempt some iron and steel products
from safeguard measures, the
Ministry of Commerce
(MOFCOM) announced yesterday.
This is the second exemption since China decided to adopt final
safeguard measures on steel imports in November 2002.
Officials with the China Association of Iron and Steel Industries
said the decision comes in response to short supply and high prices
at home.
Domestic steel prices remained high despite big increases in this
year's imports. China imported 10.92 million tons of steel plate in
the first four months of this year, up 73.5 percent year-on-year,
customs data shows.
They said the exemption is expected to have little negative impact
on China's steel industry because the safeguard measures have been
in place for quite some time.
Domestic iron and steel companies are now more concerned with the
ongoing anti-dumping investigations into imports of cold-rolled
steel coil from Russia, South Korea, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and
China's Taiwan, they said.
MOFCOM announced, in its preliminary judgment on Tuesday, that
these regions have dumped cold-rolled steel coil on the Chinese
mainland, but decided to put temporary anti-dumping measures on
hold because domestic market supply is short at present.
If
the need arises, penalties could be withdrawn before the final
judgment of the case, said the ministry in its notice.
Whether, when and how much temporary anti-dumping tariffs MOFCOM
will impose is expected to greatly impact China's iron and steel
imports and thereby the steel industry, said officials with the
industrial association.
China set in place temporary safeguard measures on steel, due to
come into effect on Saturday, in response to the controversial US
steel tariffs.
US
President George W. Bush initiated the tariffs in March 2002
triggering a new round of trade protectionism in the global steel
industry, with the European Union, Canada and Japan rushing to
protect domestic markets from steel exports that might be diverted
from the US.
China followed suit with temporary measures of six months in May,
which were extended to three years upon their expiration in
mid-November.
China's safeguard measures involve five categories of steel
products; cold-rolled thin plate, hot-rolled thin plate, painted
thin plate, non grain orientated silicon steel and cold-rolled thin
stainless sheet.
The former Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation
announced in January its intention to remove some products from the
list from February 1 following a petition by domestic companies
from other industries, such as household electronic appliances and
auto manufacturers.
MOFCOM again expanded in early May non grain orientated silicon
steel's quota between May 24, 2003 and May 24, 2004, to 939,425
tons from 739,425 tons, but made no changes to control rapid
increases in imports from developing countries or to spread the
quotas throughout the year.
Zhang Zhaojun, an industry expert with www.custeel.com, said
China's steel imports, especially those from developing countries,
are expected to remain at a high level over the next 12 months.
(China Daily May 22, 2003)