The Chinese government has reacted strongly to European
anti-dumping applications against Chinese steel products, stating
China's iron and steel industry would expand to satisfy domestic
demand rather than to dominate the global market.
Deputy director of the Industrial Department of the National
Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) Xiong Bilin said China
would accelerate the closure of out-of-date steelworks and continue
to boost the industrial upgrading of steel sector.
He said China had so far eliminated backward mills with an
aggregate capacity of 11.44 million tons for iron and 8.73 million
tons for steel.
This month, 18 provinces and municipalities will clinch
responsibility pledges with the NDRC to advance the closure of
out-of-date steel factories.
"If everything goes smoothly, the eliminated capacity for iron
would reach 36.66 million tons by the end of this year, and for
steel 35.69 million tons," he said.
The China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals and Chemical
Importers and Exporters also released a statement Wednesday,
calling the dumping charges by the European Confederation of Iron
and Steel Industries (Eurofer) "groundless and not conforming to
reality".
"China's rising output and exports of steel products were
powered by the demands of domestic and overseas markets rather than
the spread in local and overseas prices," said the statement.
Given that China accounted for one third of the world's crude
steel output, if there was a global demand for the low-end product
when no other country could meet the demand, market forces would
boost China's exports, it said.
The chamber maintained the competitiveness of domestic iron and
steel companies came from relatively low production and management
costs rather than government subsidies.
As the prices for iron ore and shipping charges keep rising, the
export prices for China's steel products were also constantly
climbing and in some cases even more expensive than exports from
other countries.
Customs figures show the average price for China's steel exports
to the European Union rose by 27.3 percent from January to
September over the same period last year and are still rising.
September alone saw a rise of 3.7 percent from August.
"Take a closer look at China's steel exports to the European
Union, one would find that most of the products were generic or
low-end products indigenous EU manufacturers wouldn't manufacture.
China's exports were actually complementary to the EU market and
accorded with the interests of some EU customers," said the
statement.
The chamber said it was not proper for the Eurofer to file such
anti-dumping applications while dialogue with the Chinese steel
industry was under way.
The Ministry of Commerce also voiced regrets over the
anti-dumping applications on Monday and hoped to solve the issue
through dialogue and negotiation. It hoped the European Commission
would refrain from adopting anti-dumping measures.
A statement released by the China Iron and Steel Association on
Tuesday said it would organize domestic enterprises when necessary
to answer the appeal and use legal means to defend the legitimate
interests of local industries.
The Brussels-based Eurofer requested late October the imposition
of anti-dumping measures on imports from China, including stainless
steel cold-rolled flat products and hot-dipped metallic coated
sheet and strip steel from China.
Eurofer claimed massive volumes have been dumped on the EU
market at dumping margins of up to 40 percent, bringing down EU
domestic prices by up to 25 percent and making life for European
steel producer harder.
(Xinhua News Agency November 8, 2007)
