Vietnam to take action on dumped coated steel sheet imports from China, Korea
Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade has decided to carry out an antidumping probe into coated steel sheets imported from China and the Republic of Korea, the Vietnam Competition Authority (VCA) said on March 4 on its website.
Measures will be enacted to prevent such products imported from China, including Hong Kong, and the Republic of Korea from being dumped in the Vietnamese market, the VCA added.
The probe is applicable to the period from October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015.
On December 24, 2015, the VCA received appeals from four steel firms, including China Steel Sumikin Vietnam JSC, Phuong Nam Co. Ltd., Nam Kim Steel JSC, and Dong A Steel JSC, demanding the implementation of measures to prevent coated steel sheets shipped from these markets from being sold at cheap prices in Vietnam.
The four firms have accused companies from the markets of dumping their products in the Southeast Asian country, which seriously affects local businesses.
From 2014 to 2015, the proportion of coated steel sheets imported from China increased dramatically, said Nguyen Thanh Trung, general director of Dong A Steel JSC.
In 2015, China exported about 1.6-1.8 million metric tons to Vietnam, covering nearly half of the total products currently manufactured by local enterprises, Trung estimated.
Despite low quality, many of these are illegally labeled under reliable brands in Vietnam, thus selling at much cheaper prices, about 30-40%, than the genuine.
In October, 2014, Vietnam started to prevent dumping on stainless steel imported from China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Taiwan by applying tariffs of 3.41-37.29%, depending on their manufacturing nations, in a five-year period.
