Chinanews, Beijing, Feb. 7 – Faced with a large number of anti-dumping litigation cases filed by European and US steel makers against Chinese rolled steel, the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) declared recently that China has not dumped its rolled steel in overseas market and China will actively respond to all those litigation cases, the Beijing Morning Post reported.
“China exports its rolled steel at a price that is roughly the same as that recognized in the world steel industry. If foreign steel makers think China is dumping its steel and want to make lawsuit against Chinese products, China will actively respond to their litigation,” said Luo Bingsheng, deputy chairman of the China Iron and Steel Association, last Friday.
This is the first time that China responded after the news was spread that Eurpean and US steel makers would launch anti-dumping cases against Chinese steel.
Luo said that China is “well-prepared” for their litigation and all enterprises in Chinese steel industry would work together to defend themselves by legal means.
Statistics released by CISA show that in 2006, China exported a total of 43 million tons of rolled steel to other countries, 109.58% more than a year before. 60% of these were exported to South Korea, European Union, and the United States. The huge export raised the concern of European Confederation of Iron and Steel Industries and related organizations in US steel industry.
However, the large export is promoted both by the large demand for steel in international market and the huge profit in store for the steel industry. In China, rolled steel is sold at a much cheaper price in domestic market than in overseas market, which encourages many domestic steel makers to increase their sales abroad.
In addition, the “huge” export figure is still small compared with China’s total steel production last year.
Last year, China exported 43 million tons of steel, which accounted for only 9.2% of the total crude steel production in China, far less than the 30-40% average world export level, said Qi Xiangdong, CISA’s deputy secretary-general.
In 2007, Chinese steel export will probably decrease. So Chinese rolled steel will not affect EU and US steel markets, said Luo.
