[AP / Yonhap]
SEOUL -- China's commerce ministry said Monday it will launch an anti-dumping investigation into certain steel products imported from South Korea, Japan, the European Union and Indonesia.
China's commerce ministry said on its website that it will investigate stainless steel billet and hot-rolled stainless steel plates from the four nations at the request of a Chinese steel firm. It said steel products from the nations accounted for over half of the Chinese market in 2014-2017, adding it will conduct surveys, on-site inspections and public hearings to see whether the cheap products are hurting the domestic industry.
China's imports of Korean steel products being probed amounted to 182,323 tons last year, accounting for about half of the total shipments, according to the ministry. China enacting its own set of steel tariffs is yet another blow to Korean steel mills, which have faced growing import restrictions by the United States, EU and others.
The Korean government is seeking an exemption from EU duties of 25 percent on a wide range of steel products, which were imposed last week to deal with the rising flow of imports following the United States' new steel tariffs.
Seoul has received relief from the U.S. tariffs, but Korean products are still subject to a quota of about 2.68 million tons, or 70 percent of the average exports to the U.S. over the previous three years.
(Yonhap)
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
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