Vietnam would impose anti-dumping tariffs on steel from China, following South Korea and other nations in fighting back against surging supplies from the world’s biggest producer.
Hanoi would impose temporary tariffs on some hot-rolled coils beginning early next month, the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade said on Friday.
Outside China, Vietnam is the biggest single buyer of Chinese steel, and hot-rolled coil is a major export product.
Photo: AFP
China sent the most steel overseas in nine years last year, as its producers turned to global markets to offset a deep construction slowdown at home.
That set the stage for US President Donald Trump to propose a blanket 25 percent tariff on all US imports, and has prompted nations from South Korea to Brazil and India to consider levies.
Trump’s tariffs are motivated mostly by concerns that China is flooding the global market and harming US manufacturing, said Kate Kalutkiewicz, former senior director for international trade policy at the US National Economic Council during Trump’s first term.
“They almost entirely relate to China, and China’s non-market policies and practices which have enabled this global glut,” she said. The tariffs are due to take effect on March 12.
The flurry of protectionism would pile pressure on Beijing to rein in its billion-ton steel industry after several years of slowing domestic demand.
Recent tariff decisions “should incentivize the Chinese government to launch another round of supply reform” to boost supply discipline and improve industry profitability, Citigroup Inc analysts led by Jack Shang (尚游) wrote in a note.
Vietnam’s temporary tariffs of between 19.38 percent and 27.83 percent would come into force on Friday next week and last 120 days.
China exported about 8 million tonnes of hot-rolled coils to Vietnam last year, and the tariffs would likely cover about 50 percent of that volume, Citigroup said, citing discussions with industry players.
The anti-dumping probe was triggered by Hoa Phat Group and Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp (台塑河靜鋼鐵興業), two major Vietnamese steelmakers who requested an investigation of imports from India and China last year. The government would not go ahead with duties on India at this moment, it said.
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