Govt urged to act against Chinese attempts to bypass anti-dumping tax
The Iron and Steel Institute of Thailand has urged the government to impose anti-circumvention measures on Chinese products that are eating away market share from Thai manufacturers, whose output in the five months of 2023 has dropped 14.7% year on year.
From January to May, domestic consumption of iron and steel was 7.17 million tonnes, while domestic factories produced only 2.81 million tonnes, 0.6 million tonne of which was earmarked for export.
The kingdom, therefore, has to rely on imported iron and steel, half of which were from China, to satisfy its domestic demand, said Institute director Wiroj Rojwattanachai on Thursday.
He said Chinese manufacturers have been circumventing the Commerce Ministry’s anti-dumping tax on iron and steel products by switching to hot-rolled manufacturing method, mixing alloys in the products, or coating them with substance not listed under the anti-dumping tax regulations.
These circumventing methods have helped them avoid paying extra tax from 23% to 286%, he added.
Wiroj urged the government and the Commerce Ministry to impose anti-circumvention measures against Chinese products to increase demand for Thai iron and steel.
The European Union has also implemented such measures against zinc-coated iron from China, and the US also did the same thing with products from Vietnam, he added.
“Thailand is importing nearly 70% of domestic iron and steel consumption,” he said. “Furthermore, we are paying more than average of Asean nations by 22%, based on statistics from the Southeast Asia Iron And Steel Institute.”
Meanwhile, China reported a 41.4% increase year on year in iron and steel exports in the first half of 2023, as well as a 6.1% increase in domestic output year on year to 445 million tonnes, he added.
