EC Spokesman: No Anti-Dumping Duties on Iran

The European Commission has officially announced that it has decided not to impose preliminary duties on the import of hot rolled coil from five countries, including Iran, EC’s spokesman told Metal Bulletin on Monday.

“The commission decided not to impose provisional duties on hot rolled flat steel products from Brazil, Iran, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine,” the spokesman said.

The EC was expected to set preliminary anti-dumping duties on HRC from the five countries on April 7. It initiated an anti-dumping investigation into such imports on July 7, 2016, and on January 6, 2017, implemented a ruling that HRC imports from Russia and Brazil must be registered on arrival in the EU.

Rumors that the EC would decide against imposing preliminary duties had been circulating in the EU market a couple of weeks before the official announcement confirmed it.

In addition, Russian steelmaker Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works resumed offering HRC in Southern Europe last week, according to market sources.

The fact that no preliminary duties were imposed does not mean that steelmakers in the five exporting countries will not be assessed with definitive duties at a later date.

“The investigation in relation to imports from these countries will continue for another six months and will assess in further detail the effects of potential measures on industries using imported steel for further downstream production within the EU,” the EC spokesman said.

“The decision not to impose provisional measures on imports from Brazil, Iran, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine does not prejudge the final outcome of that investigation.”

The EC imposed definitive anti-dumping duties at rates of 18.10-35.90% on HRC imported from China at the end of last week.

The Brussels-based steel lobby group Eurofer, whose members account for more than a quarter of European Union iron and steel products, declared on February 16 that Iranian steel exports had become a “threat” to European markets.

The group and its members seem startled by the latest data showing Iranian exports, especially hot-rolled coil shipments, growing nearly eightfold between 2013 and 2016 to over 1 million tons annually, placing Iran third behind India (1.9 million tons) and China (5.7 million tons).

Iran’s top steel export markets in Europe during the eight months to November 20 were Italy, Spain and Belgium. Italy accounted for 486,000 tons valued at $265.7 million, Spain 144,000 tons valued at $107.4 million and Belgium 37,000 tons valued at $34.8 million.