Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1444 of 9 August 2017 imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of certain corrosion resistant steels originating in the People's Republic of China

• (151) The association representing importers claimed that the Union industry could not always supply its members with the product concerned due to lack of capacity. This statement was unsubstantiated. Taking into consideration that the association did not provide any evidence in support of this claim and that, as can be seen from Table 5, the Union industry's capacity utilisation did not exceed 80 % during the period considered, the Commission did not find any argument suggesting that this assertion would be true.

• (152) Another interested party commented that one Union producer had problems to supply customers because of ‘cutbacks’. However, this claim related to a particular problem at one Union producer and was not therefore representative of the supply situation of the industry as a whole. Even if this situation existed at the time, alternative sources of supply existed and there was nothing on file to show that supply was a general problem for importers and traders. Furthermore, one of the reasons why Union producers are suffering problems relates to the dumping of steel products from inter alia Chinese sources as highlighted by this investigation.

• (153) The main end-user industries for corrosion resistant steels products are the construction sector for various cladding building materials but also for manufacturing domestic appliances, deep-drawing and stamping processes and small welded pipes. As explained above only one user cooperated in the proceeding.

• (154) Even if the imposition of measures would affect some users negatively in terms of higher purchase prices, nothing on the file demonstrated that users would be disproportionately affected in terms of profitability or that delocalisation of major industrial groups would be triggered. The level of duties proposed cannot be deemed prohibitive either.

• (155) It should be noted that duties should contribute to continuous security of supply for the distributors and their clients. Without duties, some of the corrosion resistant steels producers in the Union might have to close down/reduce their corrosion resistant steels production activities and leave many Union users with more limited sources of supply. Moreover the level of measures will lead to a level playing field but still allow for imports from the country concerned (at fair prices) and other sources.

• (156) In view of the above, it is provisionally concluded that the imposition of measures would not have significant negative effects on the interest of the Union importers and users.

6.3.   Conclusion on Union interest

• (157) In view of the above, it was provisionally concluded that the imposition of measures would contribute to the recovery of the Union industry by allowing price increases enabling the industry as a whole to return to a profitable situation. This high value added segment is essential to the overall strategy of the Union steel industry and its future prospects and prosperity.

• (158) The impact of measures on the few other parties in the Union that came forward cannot be deemed substantive. The investigation did not show that the potential impact on other actors (that did not come forward) would outweigh the positive effect of measures on the Union industry. Measures were found to be beneficial to the upstream industries, such as suppliers of raw materials and machinery producers, which did not (or to a limited extent) supply producers in the country concerned.

• (159) The imposition of measures at the proposed level only has a limited impact on the prices of the supply chain and the performance of users. The level of measures will lead to a level playing field but still allow for imports from the country concerned, at fair prices. In terms of importers, they will be able to pass on price increases to customers or change sources of supply.

• (160) On balance, the Commission concludes at this stage of the investigation that there were no compelling reasons to conclude that it would not be in the Union interest to impose provisional measures on imports of corrosion resistant steels products originating in the PRC.

7. PROVISIONAL ANTI-DUMPING MEASURES

• (161) 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 (Injury margin)

• (162) 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.

• (163) 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.

• (164) In order to determine the target profit, the Commission considered the profits made on unrelated sales which are used for the purpose of determining the injury elimination level. The Commission found that the profitability of the Union industry was negative during the whole period considered. Moreover, throughout this period there was a significant presence, on the Union market, of low priced imports from the PRC. Therefore, the Commission concluded the target profit could not be established on the basis of the period considered. The complainant requested the Commission, in the complaint, to use at least 10 % of turnover as reasonable non-injurious profit margin. In its assessment of this claim, the Commission made a ten year profitability analysis of the sampled Union producers in order to establish what representative profit level had been achieved in the absence of dumping. It found that the most recent profitable year was 2008, namely 7,4 %. On this basis, the Commission concluded that the most appropriate target profit was the profit actually achieved in 2008.

• (165) Thus, the Commission calculated a non-injurious price of the like product for the Union industry by adding the above-mentioned profit margin of 7,4 % to the cost of production of the sampled Union producers during the investigation period.

• (166) The Commission then determined the injury elimination level on the basis of a comparison of the weighted average import price of the cooperating exporting producers in the country concerned, 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.

7.2.   Provisional measures

• (167) Provisional anti-dumping measures should be imposed on imports of the product concerned originating in the country concerned, 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.

• (168) 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:

• (169) 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. These duty rates are exclusively applicable to imports of the product concerned originating in the country concerned 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.

• (170) A company may request the application of these individual anti-dumping duty rates if it changes subsequently the name of its entity. The request must be addressed to the Commission ⁶. 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.

• (171) To minimise the risks of circumvention due to the high difference in duty rates, special measures are needed to ensure the application of the individual anti-dumping duties. The companies with individual anti-dumping duties must present a valid commercial invoice to the customs authorities of the Member States. The invoice must conform to the requirements set out in Article 1(3) hereof. Imports not accompanied by that invoice should be subject to the anti-dumping duty applicable to ‘all other companies’.

• (172) 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

• (173) As mentioned above in recital (3), the Commission made imports of the product concerned originating in and consigned from the PRC subject to registration by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1238. This was in view of the possible retroactive application of the anti-dumping measures under Article 10(4) of the basic Regulation. No decision on a possible retro-active application of anti-dumping measures can be taken at this stage of the proceeding.

9. FINAL PROVISIONS

• (174) 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.

• (175) 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

The following products are excluded:

• — of stainless steel, of silicon-electrical steel, and of high-speed steel,

• — not further worked than hot-rolled or cold-rolled (cold-reduced).

The product concerned is currently falling within CN codes ex 7210 41 00, ex 7210 49 00, ex 7210 61 00, ex 7210 69 00, ex 7212 30 00, ex 7212 50 61, ex 7212 50 69, ex 7225 92 00, ex 7225 99 00, ex 7226 99 30 and ex 7226 99 70 (TARIC codes: 7210410020, 7210490020, 7210610020, 7210690020, 7212300020, 7212506120, 7212506920, 7225920020, 7225990022, 7225990035, 7225990092, 7226993010, 7226997094) and originating in in the People's Republic of China.

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, 9 August 2017.

For the Commission

The President

Jean-Claude JUNCKER

ANNEX

COOPERATING EXPORTING PRODUCERS NOT INCLUDED IN THE SAMPLE

TARIC ADDITIONAL CODE C231