China Sticks to Stainless-steel Levies Despite Indonesia Pain
GlendonChina will press on with levying anti-dumping duties on imports of stainless-steel products, including from Indonesia, as it seeks to protect a domestic industry battered by persistent oversupply and trade uncertainty.
China will press on with levying anti-dumping duties on imports of stainless-steel products, including from Indonesia, as it seeks to protect a domestic industry battered by persistent oversupply and trade uncertainty.
Some traders and industry executives had expressed hopes the world’s largest metal consumer would reconsider its tariffs, particularly for Indonesia, given the role that Chinese companies have played in expanding nickel and stainless steel production in Indonesia, today among the top suppliers of both.
Beijing, however, has now ruled that lifting the measures would risk hurting its industry at home, according to a statement posted on the commerce ministry website on Monday. The levies — which cover stainless steel billet and hot-rolled coil from the European Union, the UK, South Korea and Indonesia — will remain in place for another five years.
When they were introduced in July 2019, China’s tariffs surprised the industry, given almost all stainless steel products from Indonesia in particular come from local ventures of large Chinese companies including Tsingshan Holding Group Co. Together, the two nations produce close to three-quarters of the world’s stainless steel.
But China’s slowing economy has hit demand, and both countries are threatened by the Trump administration’s aggressive tariff policies. Both nickel traded on the London Metal Exchange and stainless steel in Shanghai hit their five-year lows earlier this year amid sluggish demand and squeezed production margins. Tsingshan has been compelled to start suspending some stainless steel production at the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park on the island of Sulawesi.
The levies on Indonesian producers will remain unchanged at 20.2%, China’s statement said. The trade ministry also kept a 43% duty on all stainless-steel products from EU and UK companies and 103.1% for most South Korean companies, according to the statement. Levies on products by Posco Holdings Inc, which has a price commitment with the Chinese government, will be kept at 23.1%.
In the domestic stainless market, privately owned Tsingshan and rival Jiangsu Delong Nickel Industry Co compete with state-owned titan China Baowu Steel Group Co.
