The government has started anti-dumping probes into beer and certain steel products from China, adding to a string of measures targeting Chinese exports by trade partners around the world.
Officials are investigating whether some hot-rolled and flat-rolled steel products from China harm the domestic industry due to unfair competition, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement yesterday.
China Steel Corp (中鋼) and Dragan Steel Corp (中龍鋼鐵) filed the anti-dumping complaint, requesting the ministry to levy a provisional anti-dumping tariff on such steel products from China.
Photo: Clare Cheng, Taipei Times
The products are used in construction and structural engineering projects, automobiles, home appliances, oil and gas pipelines, and high-pressure gas containers, the ministry said.
Beer made in China is also the subject of an inquiry, the ministry said in a separate statement, adding that the beverage has been exported to Taiwan at artificially low prices, hurting the domestic industry.
The probe stems from a dumping complaint by the Taiwan Brewers Association (台灣釀酒商協會), which said cheaper Chinese imports had cost its members’ business, calling on the ministry to levy a provisional anti-dumping tax on Chinese beer.
The association’s members include Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Co (台灣菸酒), Heineken Taiwan Co (海尼根台灣), Zhangmen Brewing Co (掌門精釀), Taihu Brewing Ltd (臺虎精釀), Le Ble D’or F&B Co (金色三麥) and King Car Buckskin Beer Co (金車柏克金).
As the finance ministry begins its probes, the Ministry of Economic Affairs is also required by regulations to submit its preliminary reports within the next 40 days to determine whether Chinese imports have disrupted local industries.
The finance ministry is expected to announce its preliminary anti-dumping duties on Chinese imports in late June at the earliest and its final decision in late October, ministry officials said.
The probes add to the challenges confronting China’s export engine, which has been a bright spot during a difficult economic recovery. A sweeping 25 percent tariff on Chinese steel and aluminum imports to the US is set to take effect today.
Taiwan has in the past imposed anti-dumping tariffs on goods from China, including cement, and chemical and metal products. The latest probe is the first such measure Taiwan has aimed at China since 2023.
China shipped about 2.57 million tonnes of steel products to Taiwan last year, US trade data show, making the nation the 12th-biggest export destination for the products.
In addition, China was the largest source of beer shipments to Taiwan last year, finance ministry data showed.
The total value exported was US$125.4 million, nearly four times that from the Netherlands, the second-biggest exporter.
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