Brussells -
The European Union has launched a new investigation into whether Chinese
manufacturers are selling steel into Europe at unfairly low prices, a case
Beijing said it viewed with deep concern.
The
European Commission has determined that a complaint brought by EU steel makers'
association Eurofer regarding certain corrosion resistant steel merits an
investigation, the EU's official journal said on Friday.
The EU has
imposed duties on a wide range of steel grades after investigations over the
past few years to counter what EU steel producers say is a flood of steel sold
at a loss due to Chinese overcapacity.
An official
at China's Commerce Ministry
said Beijing attached a "high degree of
attention and concern" to the case and that Europe's
steel problems were due to weak economic growth. Blaming China's excess
capacity was baseless.
Wang Hejun,
the head of the trade remedies investigation department at China's Commerce Ministry, said in a statement
on the ministry's website that Europe should
rationally analyse the problems facing its steel industry.
"It
should not adopt mistaken trade protectionist measures that limit fair market
competition," he said.
Beijing is also irked because the investigation has been launched
just days before the 15th anniversary of China's accession to the World
Trade Organization, when it says new trade defence rules should apply.
Under
existing rules, the EU can compare Chinese prices with those of another country
- in the current case it has chosen Canadian prices. However, Beijing insists
this should no longer be possible from December 11.
Read also: China's steel push 'damaging' global markets
The
European Commission proposed last month a new way of treating China, but its
proposals still await approval from the EU's 28 members and the European
Parliament.
Some 5 000
jobs have been axed in the British steel industry in the last year, as it
struggles to compete with cheap Chinese imports and high energy costs.
G20
governments recognised in September that steel overcapacity was a serious
problem. China,
the source of 50 percent of the world's steel and the largest steel consumer,
has said the problem is a global one.
In October,
the European Commission set provisional import tariffs of up to 73.7 percent
for heavy plate steel and up to 22.6 percent for hot-rolled steel coming from China. Those
investigations are set to conclude in April.
In
anti-dumping cases, the Commission typically has up to nine months to determine
whether there are grounds for imposing provisional duties on a product and then
a further six months to determine whether duties should apply as long as five
years.
REUTERS