China on Friday said it would impose import deposits of up to 46 percent on flat-rolled electrical steel products from the EU as its domestic producers face growing financial pressure.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said that it would levy anti-dumping duties on imports of grain-oriented flat-rolled electrical steel from Japan, South Korea and the EU.
Importers are to pay deposits ranging from 14.5 percent to 46.3 percent, after an investigation showed the regions were guilty of dumping, which hurts the Chinese industry, the ministry added.
Photo: Reuters/China Daily
The announcement came as British Prime Minister David Cameron held crisis talks to salvage Britain’s steel industry after Indian giant Tata Steel Ltd said it was putting its business in the country up for sale, threatening 15,000 jobs.
Tata’s decision notably puts at risk Britain’s biggest steel plant at Port Talbot in the former industrial heartland of south Wales. The facility is Wales’ biggest single employer and closure would have a devastating impact on the local economy.
The Port Talbot plant reportedly produced grain-oriented flat-rolled steel.
China imported about 1.5 million tonnes of steel from the EU in 2014 and exported about 6.5 million tonnes of its steel to the EU, according to the World Steel Association.
EU steelmakers last week called for sharply higher anti-dumping tariffs to protect against a flood of cheap Chinese imports, while China’s own steel sector is also reeling from the effects of massive overcapacity as its economy slows.
Tata blamed chronic global oversupply of steel, a “significant increase” in cheaper imports into Europe — particularly from China — and plunging prices in recent times. The company is also battling high costs, currency volatility and weak global demand for steel, which is mostly used in construction.
Analysts immediately predicted consolidation in Europe’s steel sector, with German heavy industry giant ThyssenKrupp AG likely to take part.
A German newspaper on Friday reported that Tata Steel is in talks over the possible purchase of parts or all of ThyssenKrupps European steel operations.
The speculation of a tie-up with Tata Steel appeared to appeal to investors, with ThyssenKrupp shares the biggest gainers on the Frankfurt stock exchange on Friday, shooting up more than 6 percent in a generally softer market.
The regional daily Rheinische Post quoted German government sources as saying that talks were already at an advanced stage and that a number of different options were being considered.
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves fell below the US$600 billion mark at the end of last month, with the central bank reporting a total of US$596.89 billion — a decline of US$8.6 billion from February — ending a three-month streak of increases. The central bank attributed the drop to a combination of factors such as outflows by foreign institutional investors, currency fluctuations and its own market interventions. “The large-scale outflows disrupted the balance of supply and demand in the foreign exchange market, prompting the central bank to intervene repeatedly by selling US dollars to stabilize the local currency,” Department of Foreign
Intel Corp is joining Elon Musk’s long-shot effort to develop semiconductors for Tesla Inc, Space Exploration Technologies Corp and xAI, marking a surprising twist in the chipmaker’s comeback bid. Intel would help the Terafab project “refactor” the technology in a chip factory, the company said on Tuesday in a post on X, Musk’s social media platform. That is a stage in the development process that typically helps make chips more powerful or reliable. The chipmaker’s shares jumped 4.2 percent to US$52.91 in New York trading on Tuesday. The Terafab project is a grand plan by Musk to eventually manufacture his own chips for
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) yesterday said it plans to resume operations at two coal-fired power generators for three months to boost security of electricity supply as liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply risks are running high due to the Middle East conflict. The two coal-fired power generators are at Mailiao Power Plant in Yunlin County’s Mailiao Township (麥寮). The plant, operated by Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), supplied electricity to Taipower’s power grid until the end of last year. Taipower’s decision came about one month after Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) on March 10 said that the nation had no imminent
Some robotaxi passengers were left stranded in the middle of fast-moving traffic in a major Chinese city after their driverless vehicles stopped running, according to police and media reports on Wednesday. A preliminary investigation indicates more than 100 robotaxis came to a halt because of a “system malfunction,” police in the city of Wuhan said in a statement, without elaborating. No injuries were reported. One passenger told Chinese media that their robotaxi stopped after turning a corner. An instruction on a screen read: “Driving system malfunction. Staff are expected to arrive in 5 minutes.” After no one showed up, the passenger pushed
RSS