On 12 October 2022 ITAC initiated a new anti-dumping case on “Other flat-rolled products of iron or non-alloy steel, of a width of 600 mm or more, otherwise plated or coated with zinc: corrugated: of a thickness of less than 0,45 mm, classified under tariff subheading 7210.41.10, originating in or imported from the People’s Republic of China”. This, it turns out, is the wrong tariff code and the word “corrugated” was left out of the description, so in every important respect a completely different product. The anti-dumping application was brought on tariff code 7210.49.10, which is a lot more than a rounding error. The correct tariff code is the raw material, rather than the finished product, and so is in fact not corrugated. The requested anti-dumping duty is 41%, which if implemented, would be in addition to the current 10%. That is a lot of duty.
The application was brought by the South African Coil Coaters Association (ArcelorMittal, Safal and Duferco), claiming that the subject product is being dumped into the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) market, causing material injury to the SACU industry.
The investigation period to assess injury is May 2019 to April 2022 and the period to assess dumping is May 2021 to April 2022. 55 000 tons were imported, with a value of R555m for the period where dumping is assessed (May 2021 to April 2022). The average FOB value for this product is R10 000 per ton. When the finished product is imported however, it enters at R2 100 per ton, a value so ridiculously low it has to indicate duty circumvention, a crime. If the duty is implemented, it can very reasonably be assumed that the importers of the corrugated material would be the big winners. Not the applicants and definitely not the producers of the corrugated roofing.
According to the application, the end use of the corrugated sheets, as opposed to this raw material, is “the thinner gauges from 0.45mm down to 0.3mm are used in building projects such as low-cost housing, the less than 0.3mm coating thickness will also be sold to the informal (self help) segment, mainly for the erection of informal settlements. The overall trend in the coated steel market is for lighter gauge material especially in the self-help and informal roofing and cladding markets“.
So the target is poor people.
ArcelorMittal, the largest of the three applicants, saw their profit after tax, for the period January 2022 to June 2022, increase by R800m to R3bn. Just saying.
XA knows the steel industry, which is why we prevented the eye-watering 120% safeguard duty being imposed on long steel and stopped the extension of the 8% safeguard duties on hot-rolled coil. Work with us to get the best possible outcome for this matter.