Taiwan announces anti-dumping duties for steel producers from 6 countries

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) of Taiwan issued a final ruling recognizing steel exporters from six countries such as China, South Korea, Indonesia, India, Brazil and Ukraine as anti-dumping rule violators who sold their products at unreasonably low prices in the local market.

The Treasury Department said it intends to impose anti-dumping tariffs in the range of 4.02 percent and 80.5 percent on companies no later than February. The financial penalty will be in effect for five years, the ministry said.

The decision was taken after being based on two anti-dumping charges. One accusation says that sellers of galvanized or otherwise coated zinc or zinc alloys from China and South Korea dumped their products at unreasonably low prices in Taiwan. Another accusation notes that exporters of carbon steel plates from Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Ukraine violated Taiwan's anti-dumping laws.

Xie Ling-yuan, deputy general director of the Ministry of Finance's customs department, said that after investigating the allegations, the ministry proved that exporters from six countries were in violation of Taiwan's anti-dumping rules.

Six countries sold a total of NT $ 11.55 billion (US $ 362 million) worth of steel products to Taiwan customers in 2015, according to statistics compiled by the customs office. China accounted for 67.3 percent of Taiwan's imports of zinc-coated or zinc alloy-coated steel plates, while South Korea accounted for 34.2 percent of Taiwan's carbon steel imports.

Among steel producers from six countries, South Korea's POSCO is likely to face the lowest anti-dumping tariff of 4.02 percent, while other South Korean firms may face the highest penalty of 80.5 percent.