Trade commission recommends accepting Chinese steel companies' price hike pledge as anti-dumping measure
Hyundai Steel's hot rolled steel plates / Courtesy of Hyundai Steel
Korea's trade watchdog on Thursday recommended the government accept a proposal from Chinese steel companies to raise export prices of their hot-rolled carbon and alloy steel plates over the next five years as part of anti-dumping remedies.
The Korea Trade Commission (KTC) said it has decided to make such a recommendation to the Ministry of Economy and Finance for nine Chinese steel exporters, including Baoshan Iron & Steel and Jiangsu Shagang Steel.
The companies have proposed a price undertaking after the KTC reached a preliminary decision in February to impose anti-dumping duties, having determined that the exporters inflicted damage on the Korean steel industry by selling their products here at excessively low prices.
The KTC said it will recommend the ministry levy anti-dumping tariffs of up to 34.1 percent for the next five years on other Chinese companies that did not make such proposals.
Trade authorities launched an investigation into the case in October, three months after Hyundai Steel filed a complaint with the government against competing low-priced thick steel plate imports from China.
Thursday's decision comes amid mounting concerns in the Korean steel industry, faced with 50 percent tariffs on all steel imports imposed by the U.S. government and an oversupply of cheap products from China. (Yonhap)