China steel exports hit by surge of anti-dumping probes as coronavirus drives protectionism

Name: Thailand’s dark economic outlook a painful side effect of coronavirus success story
Uploaded: 2020-09-12T10:00:15.000Z
Duration: 1 min 45 s
Description: Thailand’s dark economic outlook a painful side effect of coronavirus success story

China has been hit by 15 anti-dumping investigations into its steel exports in the first nine months of this year, up from 13 last year

While Chinese steel dumping is a long-standing issue, the pandemic is hastening protectionism across the globe, experts say

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China, the world’s biggest steel producer, has long been accused of flooding the international market with cheap, subsidised steel. Photo: Reuters

Su-Lin TanandJitsiree Thongnoi

Published: 6:00pm, 12 Sep 2020Updated: 6:44pm, 15 Sep 2020

China’s steel exports have been subject to 15 new anti-dumping investigations in the first nine months of the year, more than all of last year, as experts warn that the US-China trade war and the coronavirus pandemic have hastened a trend towards global protectionism.

The US, Britain, Australia and Thailand are among the countries that have initiated dumping probes into Chinese products, including steel plates, grinding balls, cylinders and strands, as well as galvanised wires. Last year, China faced 13 anti-dumping investigations into its steel exports, according to the China Trade Remedies Database.

Thailand went a step further in August, slapping a 35.67 per cent anti-dumping tariff on Chinese hot-dipped galvanised coils and sheets.

China, the world’s biggest steel producer, has long been accused of flooding the international market with cheap, subsidised steel, primarily due to oversupply at home. It produced 996 million tonnes of crude steel last year, more than half of the world’s combined output of 1.8 billion tonnes, according to the World Steel Association.

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Thailand’s dark economic outlook a painful side effect of coronavirus success story

But against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, many smaller steel producers in Asia have had enough and are doing everything possible to protect their domestic industries.