TRA to review anti-dumping measure on heavy steel plate

The Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) will review a trade remedies measure countering imports of heavy steel plate from the People’s Republic of China and decide whether duties are still needed to offset dumping of these imports in the UK. This measure is one of a number which the UK transitioned from the EU system – the TRA is reviewing them to make sure they are still suitable for the UK’s needs.

The measure covers certain products of non-alloy or alloy steel which are often used in the manufacture of construction, mining and logging equipment, in oil and gas pipelines, for ship-building and construction of bridges and buildings.

The period of investigation for the transition review is 1 January 2021 – 31 December 2021 with the entire injury period being 1 January 2018 – 31 December 2021. View further information on our current transition reviews, including the notice of initiation for this review.

Businesses that may be affected by the review (such as importers or exporters of the products or UK producers of similar products) can contribute to the review by registering on the TRA’s online case platform. They can also stay up to date with developments in the case, which will be posted on the TRA’s public file.

Background information:

• Anti-dumping duties allow a country or union to take action against goods which are being sold at less than their normal value – this is defined as the price for ‘like goods’ sold in the exporter’s home market.
• These measures are one of the three types of trade remedies – along with countervailing measures against countervailable subsidies and safeguard measures which address sudden, unforeseen floods of imports – that are allowed under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.
• The TRA is the UK body that investigates whether trade remedies measures are needed to counter unfair international trade practices and unforeseen surges of imports.
• Trade remedy investigations were carried out by the EU Commission on the UK’s behalf until the UK left the EU. Forty-four EU trade remedies measures of interest to UK producers were carried across into UK law when the UK left the EU and the TRA needs to review each one to check if it is suitable for UK needs.
• The goods being reviewed are products of non-alloy or alloy steel (excluding stainless steel, silicon-electrical steel, tool steel and high-speed steel), hot-rolled, not clad, plated or coated, not in coils, of a thickness exceeding 10mm and of a width of 600mm or more or of a thickness of 4.75mm or more but not exceeding 10mm and of a width of 2.05m or more.
• Period of Investigation – when we are reviewing dumping or subsidy cases, we use a period of investigation of around a year. We aim for the end point to be as close as possible to the date of initiation. The exact period of investigation for each case is decided on a case-by-case basis.
• Period of injury – the injury period will usually cover the period of investigation and normally the 36 months immediately before this (i.e. 48 months in total). This is a longer period than the period of investigation so that trends (e.g. in sales data) can be identified more clearly.