The European Commission introduced anti-dumping duties on pig iron and steel products made in Brazil, Iran, Russia and Ukraine. The EU industry, which has been affected by subsidized imports from these countries, is counting on market stabilization.
In July last year, an anti-dumping investigation was launched regarding the import into the European Union of certain products from cast iron, alloyed and unalloyed metal products from Ukraine, Brazil, Iran and Russia.
A few months ago, the European Association of Metallurgists Eurofer, representing over 90% of EU producers, filed a complaint over the import of these products.
The Commission's investigation revealed that Russian and Ukrainian steel was shipped to the EU by intermediaries in Switzerland, and its price, on the basis of which the duties were calculated, was understated.
According to the information provided by the EU, rolled metal products from Ukraine and other countries will be subject to duties ranging from 17.6 to 96.5 euros per ton. This decision will be used by European manufacturers of these products to improve their sales in the EU, but end consumers of rolled metal reacted negatively.
Recipients of rolled metal products, which have two main types of use, cannot be satisfied with the new tariffs. Firstly, it is the main material for the production of various steel products at the exit from the production chain. Secondly, these are industrial products purchased by end users for various purposes, including: construction, shipbuilding, production of tanks, cars, pressure vessels, etc. It is this sector that can suffer losses in connection with the decision of the Commission.
The European Commission has long imposed anti-dumping duties on goods imported into the EU. Overall, the steel sector covers 48 products subject to import duties.
Representatives of the EU metallurgical industry are asking the question: Why is domestic production more expensive than imports? And they themselves answer that it is a matter of environmental costs, hidden taxes in electricity prices, costs of CO2 emissions, and Ukraine, Russia, Iran or other countries simply do not have such problems.
