Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1777 of 6 October 2016 imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of certain heavy plate of non-alloy or other alloy steel originating in the People's Republic of China

• (199) The Union industry has suffered material injury caused by the dumped imports from the PRC. The Commission recalls that most of the injury indicators showed a negative trend during the period considered. In particular, injury indicators related to the financial performance of the sampled Union producers, such as profitability and return on investment, were seriously affected.

• (200) It is therefore important that prices be restored to a non-dumped or at least a non-injurious level in order to allow all producers to operate under conditions of fair trade on the Union market. In the absence of measures, a further deterioration of the Union industry's economic situation appears very likely.

• (201) The Commission therefore provisionally concludes that the imposition of anti-dumping duties would be in the interest of the Union industry. Any imposition of anti-dumping measures would allow the Union industry to recover from the effects of injurious dumping found.

6.2.   Interest of unrelated importers

• (202) As indicated in recital (22) above, six importers cooperate in the investigation, and three of them were sampled. One of the sampled importers is in favour of measures while the two other sampled importers oppose the imposition of measures. The remaining three non-sampled importers did not express an opinion.

• (203) The investigation showed that an increase in prices due to the imposition of measures would not have a direct impact on these unrelated importers. Heavy plate accounts for 20 % or less of their business.

• (204) In addition, most importers trade goods from numerous sources, including the Union industry. There is no indication that importers would not be able to continue serving their customers if measures were imposed.

• (205) In view of the above the Commission provisionally concludes that the imposition of measures will not have significant negative effects on the interest of the Union importers.

6.3.   Interest of users

• (206) The main end-user industries for heavy plates are construction, mining and logging equipment; pressure vessels; oil and gas pipelines; shipbuilding and bridges and buildings.

• (207) Seven users and three traders/steel service centres submitted a users' questionnaire reply. However, four of the replies were highly deficient, and only two of them were against the imposition of measures. The Commission however cannot treat these submissions as representative for the following reasons:

• — they only account for 0,3 % of Union consumption.

• — the two opposing users do not import from the PRC at all, so they would at most be indirectly affected by the measures.

• (208) The Commission further notes that duties should contribute to continuous security of supply on the Union market. Without duties, some of the Union producers might have to close down or reduce their production activities and leave many Union users with more limited sources of supply.

• (209) Indeed, one of the sampled producers suspended production of heavy plates at the end of the investigation period, as indicated in recital (104) above.

• (210) Moreover the level of measures will lead to a level playing field for all producers in the Union and third countries, which may allow this Union producer to resume production of heavy plates.

• (211) In view of the above, the Commission provisionally concludes that the imposition of measures would not have any disproportionate negative impact on users.

6.4.   Conclusion on Union interest

• (212) In view of the above, the Commission provisionally concludes that the imposition of measures would contribute to the recovery of the Union industry and allow for increased investments to better equip heavy plates' producers in the Union for the future and boost their competitiveness.

• (213) The Union industry underwent already significant restructuring in the (recent) past. If there are no duties, further Union heavy plates' producers might have to close down or reduce their heavy plates' activities, dismiss hundreds of employees and leave many Union users with limited sources of supply.

• (214) The impact of measures on the few other parties in the Union that came forward cannot be deemed substantial. Nothing on file shows that the potential impact on other stakeholders than those who came forward can outweigh the positive effect of measures on the Union industry. End-users and consumers are expected to benefit from a fair competitive market, including a local source of supply fully able to service their needs and requests. Price will continue to be a major determinant, but on a fair basis.

• (215) On balance, the Commission concludes at this stage of the investigation that there are no compelling reasons that it is not in the Union interest to impose provisional measures on imports of heavy plates originating in the PRC.

7. PROVISIONAL ANTI-DUMPING MEASURES

• (216) On the basis of the conclusions reached by the Commission on dumping, injury, causation and Union interest, provisional measures should be imposed to prevent further injury being caused to the Union industry by the dumped imports.

7.1.   Injury elimination level

• (217) To determine the level of the measures, the Commission first established the amount of duty necessary to eliminate the injury suffered by the Union industry.

• (218) The injury would be eliminated if the Union industry was able to cover its costs of production and to obtain a profit before tax on sales of the like product in the Union market that could be reasonably achieved under normal conditions of competition by an industry of this type in the sector, namely in the absence of dumped imports.

• (219) To establish this profit that could be reasonable achieved under normal conditions of competition, the Commission requested the sampled Union producers to provide profitability data with regard to the like product when sold on the Union market for the years 2006 to the investigation period. This information was provided and duly verified.

• (220) The profitability of the Union industry was negative between 2013 and the investigation period. While the profit in 2012 was slightly positive at 1,6 %, there was already a significant presence of dumped imports from the PRC, and this profit margin was far below the profit margin achieved in the previous years.

• (221) The preceding year 2011 however showed a profit margin of 7,9 %, which is higher than the profit margins in 2009 and 2010, namely years in which the financial crisis was the most fierce, but lower than the profit margins in 2006 to 2008, namely before the financial crisis. In addition, it is the most recent available reasonable data in which imports from the PRC to the Union were not yet made at significant quantities. The Commission therefore considers that this profit margin is one that could be reasonably achieved under normal conditions of competition.

• (222) The Commission then determined the injury elimination level on the basis of a comparison of the weighted average import price of the cooperating sampled exporting producers in the PRC, duly adjusted for importation costs and customs duties, as established for the price undercutting calculations, with the weighted average non-injurious price of the like product sold by the sampled Union producers on the Union market during the investigation period. Any difference resulting from this comparison was expressed as a percentage of the weighted average import CIF value.

• (223) The injury elimination level for ‘other cooperating companies’ and for ‘all other companies’ is defined in the same manner as the dumping margin for these companies (see recitals (76)-(80) above).

7.2.   Provisional measures

• (224) Provisional anti-dumping measures should be imposed on imports of the product concerned originating in the PRC, in accordance with the lesser duty rule provided for in Article 7(2) of the basic Regulation. The Commission compared the injury margins and the dumping margins. The amount of the duties should be set at the level of the lower of the dumping and the injury margins.

• (225) On the basis of the above, the provisional anti-dumping duty rates, expressed on the CIF Union border price, customs duty unpaid, should be as follows:

• (226) The individual company anti-dumping duty rates specified in this Regulation were established on the basis of the findings of this investigation. Therefore, they reflected the situation found during this investigation with respect to these companies.

• (227) These duty rates are exclusively applicable to imports of the product concerned originating in the PRC and produced by the named legal entities. Imports of product concerned produced by any other company not specifically mentioned in the operative part of this Regulation, including entities related to those specifically mentioned, should be subject to the duty rate applicable to ‘all other companies’. They should not be subject to any of the individual anti-dumping duty rates.

• (228) A company may request the application of these individual anti-dumping duty rates if it changes the name of its entity or sets up a new production or sales entity. The request must be addressed to the Commission ⁸. The request must contain all the relevant information enabling to demonstrate that the change does not affect the right of the company to benefit from the duty rate which applies to it. If the change of name of the company does not affect its right to benefit from the duty rate which applies to it, a notice informing about the change of name will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

• (229) To ensure a proper enforcement of the anti-dumping duties, the anti-dumping duty for all other companies should apply not only to the non-cooperating exporting producers in this investigation, but to the producers which did not have exports to the Union during the investigation period.

8. REGISTRATION

• (230) As mentioned in recital (5) above, the Commission made imports of the product concerned originating in the PRC subject to registration by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1357.

• (231) This was in view of the possible retroactive application of the anti-dumping measures under Article 10(4) of the basic Regulation. The registration of imports should cease. No decision on a possible retro-active application of anti-dumping measures can be taken at this stage of the proceeding.

9. FINAL PROVISIONS

• (232) In the interests of sound administration, the Commission will invite the interested parties to submit written comments and/or to request a hearing with the Commission and/or the Hearing Officer in trade proceedings within a fixed deadline.

• (233) The findings concerning the imposition of provisional duties are provisional and may be amended at the definitive stage of the investigation,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Article 2

• (a) request disclosure of the essential facts and considerations on the basis of which this Regulation was adopted;

• (b) submit their written comments to the Commission; and

• (c) request a hearing with the Commission and/or the Hearing Officer in trade proceedings.

Article 3

Article 4

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Article 1 shall apply for a period of six months.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 6 October 2016.

For the Commission

The President

Jean-Claude JUNCKER

ANNEX

Chinese cooperating exporting producers not sampled