Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/1050 of 30 May 2023 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of rebars originating in the Republic of Belarus following an expiry review pursuant to Article 11(2) of Regulation (EU) 2016/1036 of the European Parliament and of the Council

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2016/1036 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016 on protection against dumped imports from countries not members of the European Union (1) (‘the basic Regulation’), and in particular Article 11(2) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) By Regulation (EU) 2017/1019 (2), the European Commission (‘the Commission’) imposed anti-dumping duties on imports of certain concrete reinforcement bars and rods (‘rebars’) originating in the Republic of Belarus (‘the original measures’). The investigation that led to the imposition of the original measures will hereinafter be referred to as ‘the original investigation’.

(2) The anti-dumping duty currently in force on imports from the Republic of Belarus (‘Belarus’ or ‘the country concerned’) is 10,6 %.

(3) Following the publication of a Notice of impending expiry (3), the Commission received a request for a review pursuant to Article 11(2) of the basic Regulation.

(4) The request for expiry review (‘the request’) was lodged on 16 March 2022 by the European Steel Association (‘Eurofer’ or ‘the applicant’) on behalf of the Union industry of rebars in the sense of Article 5(4) of the basic Regulation representing more than 25 % of the total Union production. The request was based on the grounds that the expiry of the measures would be likely to result in continuation of dumping and recurrence of injury to the Union industry.

(5) Having determined, after consulting the Committee established by Article 15(1) of the basic Regulation, that sufficient evidence existed for the initiation of an expiry review, on 15 June 2022 the Commission initiated an expiry review with regard to imports into the Union of rebars originating in Belarus on the basis of Article 11(2) of the basic Regulation. It published a Notice of Initiation in the Official Journal of the European Union (4) (‘the Notice of Initiation’).

(6) The investigation of continuation or recurrence of dumping covered the period from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021 (‘the review investigation period’ or ‘RIP’). The examination of trends relevant for the assessment of the likelihood of a continuation or recurrence of injury covered the period from 1 January 2018 to the end of the review investigation period (‘the period considered’).

(7) In the Notice of Initiation, interested parties were invited to contact the Commission in order to participate in the investigation. In addition, the Commission specifically informed the applicants, other known Union producers, the known exporting producer and the authorities in Belarus, known importers, users and traders about the initiation of the expiry and invited them to participate.

(8) Interested parties had an opportunity to comment on the initiation of the expiry review and to request a hearing with the Commission and/or the Hearing Officer in trade proceedings.

(9) In accordance with Article 2(7) of the basic Regulation, since Belarus is not a member of the WTO and is listed in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2015/755 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5), the normal value must be determined on the basis of the price or constructed value in an appropriate representative country.

(10) With the view of seeking cooperation of exporting producers in an appropriate representative country, pursuant to Article 2(7) of the basic Regulation the Commission contacted potential producers of rebars located in Bosnia-Herzegovina, South Korea, Dominican Republic, Switzerland, Norway, Türkiye, the United States (USA) and South Africa. It received a reply from only one producer, located in the USA.

(11) In the absence of cooperation from any producers located in another potential representative country, the Commission decided to determine the normal value on the basis of the information received from this producer in the USA.

(12) In accordance with Article 2(7) of the basic Regulation, parties were informed and given 10 days to comment on the choice of the USA as appropriate representative country. No comments were received from interested parties.

(13) In the Notice of Initiation, the Commission stated that it might sample the interested parties in accordance with Article 17 of the basic Regulation.

(14) In the Notice of Initiation, the Commission stated that it had provisionally selected a sample of Union producers. The Commission selected the sample on the basis of volume of production and sales of the like product in the Union during the review investigation period, whilst taking into account geographical spread. This sample consisted of three Union producers, accounting for more than 17 % of the estimated total volume of production and sales of the like product in the Union. In accordance with Article 17(2) of the basic Regulation, the Commission invited interested parties to comment on the provisional sample. No comments were received, therefore the provisional sampled was confirmed.

(15) To decide whether sampling was necessary and, if so, to select a sample, the Commission asked unrelated importers to provide the information specified in the Notice of Initiation. No unrelated importer provided the requested information and agreed to be included in the sample.

(16) In order to decide whether sampling was necessary and, if so, to select a sample, the Commission asked all producers in Belarus to provide the information specified in the Notice of Initiation. In addition, the Commission asked the Mission of the Republic of Belarus to the European Union to identify and/or contact other producers, if any, that could be interested in participating in the investigation.

(17) Only one producer of rebars from Belarus, Byelorussian Steel Works (‘BMZ‘), came forward. Therefore, sampling was not necessary.

(18) The Commission sent questionnaires to the three sampled Union producers, the applicant, BMZ and the cooperating producer in the representative country. The questionnaires were also made available online (6) on the day of initiation.

(19) Questionnaire replies were received from the three sampled Union producers, the applicant and the producer in the USA.

(20) BMZ did not provide a questionnaire reply and was therefore deemed not to be cooperating with the Commission in this expiry review investigation.

(21) Accordingly, in the absence of cooperation from the Belarusianproducer, the Commission applied Article 18 of the basic Regulation and based its findings in the expiry review investigation on facts available.

(23) On 17 April 2023, the Commission disclosed the essential facts and considerations on the basis of which it intended to maintain the anti-dumping duties in force. All parties were granted a period within which they could make comments on the disclosure.

(24) Only the applicant provided comments which supported the Commission’s findings and conclusions.

(25) The product under review is the same as in the original investigation, namely certain concrete reinforcement bars and rods, made of iron or non-alloy steel, not further worked than forged, hot-rolled, hot-drawn or hot-extruded, whether or not twisted after rolling, containing indentations, ribs, grooves or other deformations produced during the rolling process, originating in Belarus and currently falling under CN codes ex 7214 10 00, ex 7214 20 00, ex 7214 30 00, ex 7214 91 10, ex 7214 91 90, ex 7214 99 10 and ex 7214 99 95 (‘the product under review’). High fatigue performance iron or steel concrete reinforcing bars and rods are excluded. Other long products, such as round bars, are excluded.

(27) These products are therefore considered to be like products within the meaning of Article 1(4) of the basic Regulation.

(28) In accordance with Article 11(2) of the basic Regulation, the Commission examined whether the expiry of the measures in force would be likely to lead to a continuation or recurrence of dumping from Belarus.

(29) According to Eurostat Comext database, during the RIP, imports from Belarus totalled around 206 200 tonnes with a market share of about 1,9 %. The main importing Member States were: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Compared to the original investigation, imports and market share were more than halved (i.e. 488 700 tonnes and 5,0 % market share).

(30) As indicated in recital (20), the only known Belarusian manufacturer did not cooperate with the investigation. Therefore, the Commission informed the authorities of Belarus that due to the absence of cooperation, the Commission might apply Article 18 of the basic Regulation concerning the findings with regard to Belarus. The Commission did not receive any comments.

(31) Consequently, in accordance with Article 18 of the basic Regulation, the findings in relation to the likelihood of continuation or recurrence of dumping were based on facts available, in particular Eurostat, the database established according to Article 14(6) of the basic Regulation (‘the Article 14(6) database’), Global Trade Atlas (‘GTA’) and the request.

(32) Import volume and price from Belarus were determined based on information extracted from the Article 14(6) database.

(33) As noted in Section 1.6 above, in accordance with Article 2(7) of the basic Regulation, since Belarus is not a member of the WTO and is listed in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2015/755, the normal value should be determined on the basis of the price or constructed value in an appropriate representative country.

(34) As the Commission received a reply from only one producer, located in the USA, it decided to determine the normal value on the basis of the information received from this producer in the USA, that is, on the basis of actual prices of that cooperating producer.

(35) First, the Commission examined whether, in accordance with Article 2(2) of the basic Regulation, the total volume of the sales of the like product by the cooperating producer to independent customers in the USA was representative. The total volume of the sales in the USA was compared to the total import volume from Belarus into the Union, as reported in the Article 14(6) database. On that basis, the Commission found that the like product was sold in representative quantities on the USA market.

(36) The Commission subsequently examined for the cooperating producer in the USA whether each type of the like product sold domestically could be considered as being sold in the ordinary course of trade pursuant to Article 2(4) of the basic Regulation. The sales transactions were considered profitable where the unit price was equal or above the cost of production. The cost of production of each product type produced by the producer in the USA during the RIP was therefore determined.

(37) Since the volume sold at a net sales price equal to or above the calculated cost of production (costs of manufacturing plus SG&A costs), represented more than 80 % of the total domestic sales volume, the normal value was based on the actual domestic price of the cooperating producer in the USA.

(38) As indicated in recital (32), export prices from Belarus were established based on Article 14(6) database import values, which were adjusted to ex-works level. For that purpose, the transport costs that were deducted were based on information provided by the applicant in the request.

(39) The Commission compared the normal value and the export prices on an ex-works basis.

(40) The comparison showed a countrywide dumping margin for the Belarusian exports expressed as a percentage of the Union customs value of 41,1 %.

(41) Further to the finding of the existence of dumping during the review investigation period, the Commission investigated, in accordance with Article 11(2) of the basic Regulation, the likelihood of continuation of dumping, should the measures be repealed. The following additional elements were analysed: the production capacity and spare capacity in Belarus, the relation between export prices to third countries and the price level in the Union, and the attractiveness of the Union market. It is recalled that due to the non-cooperation from the Belarusian exporting producer and the government of Belarus, the analysis was based on facts available in accordance with Article 18 of the basic Regulation, in particular the information provided by the applicant in the request for review and the statistical database Global Trade Atlas (‘GTA’).

(42) The production capacity and spare capacity in Belarus were established on the basis of the information provided in the request.

(43) According to the data provided in the request, cross checked with public sources, the production capacity for 2021 in Belarus was estimated at more than 2,6 million tonnes of rebars with a possibility to be increased by 300 thousand additional tonnes, that is 3 million tonnes in total. (7) According to the available data, Belarusian sales amounted to 1,7 million tonnes, of which 700 thousand were consumed domestically and around 1 million were exported. (8) The spare capacity was thus estimated to be more than 900 000 tonnes, which represented more than 8 % of the Union consumption during the RIP. This spare capacity could be used to produce the product under review for exports to the Union if measures were allowed to lapse.

(44) Based on the information provided in the request, the rebars industry in Belarus is export oriented as around 85 % of Belarus’ steel production capacity is destined for export. According to the GTA database, the Union market was the main export market for Belarus. Export prices from Belarus to third countries (551 EUR/tonne) were found on average 10 euro per tonne lower compared with the average export sales prices to the Union market and 15 % lower than the average sales prices of the Union producers on the Union market (651 EUR/tonne). Taking into account these price levels, exporting to the Union would be potentially more attractive for Belarusian exporters than exporting to most other markets. Moreover, a large number of export countries (i.e. the USA, Canada, the UK, Türkiye, Ukraine, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, the Gulf countries, Egypt, and other countries) became increasingly unavailable to Belarus, due to domestic oversupply and trade measures against Belarusian imports.

(45) The Union market was also attractive for the Belarusian producer in view of its geographical proximity and its size, with a total consumption of around 11 million tonnes.

(46) Therefore, in terms size, prices and proximity, the Union market remained attractive for the Belarusian exporting producer vis-à-vis other markets..

(47) The Commission noted that due to the military aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine, the Union imposed successive packages of sanctions against Russia and Belarus which also affected steel products and/or the steel companies producing and exporting the product under review after the review investigation period. Since the imposition of sanctions in March 2022, imports from Belarus stopped as from June 2022. However, the current situation cannot be considered of a lasting nature. Indeed, given that those sanctions are linked to the military aggression and the underlying geopolitical situation, their scope, modulation, and/or duration are unpredictable. Furthermore, anti-dumping measures have a lifetime of five years. Considering the abovementioned uncertainties and the fact that the Council may further amend the precise scope and duration of sanctions at any moment, the Commission found that they cannot have a bearing in its conclusions in this investigation. In particular, the Commission found that despite of the current sanctions, measures were still necessary within the meaning of Article 11(1) and (2) of the basic Regulation.

(48) The investigation showed that the imports from Belarus continued to enter the Union market at dumped prices during the RIP.

(49) In addition, the spare capacity in Belarus was significant in comparison with the Union consumption during the RIP. Moreover, the attractiveness of the Union market in terms of size and prices pointed to the likelihood that Belarusian exports would be directed towards the Union market, should the measures lapse, and spare capacity would also be used to increase production and exports to the Union.

(50) Consequently, the Commission concluded that there was a likelihood that the expiry of the anti-dumping measures would result in a significant increase of dumped imports of the product under review from Belarus to the Union.

(51) In the light of the above, the Commission concluded that the expiry of the anti-dumping measures would likely to lead to a continuation of dumping.

(52) The like product was manufactured by around 25 producers in the Union during the period considered. They constitute the ‘Union industry’ within the meaning of Article 4(1) of the basic Regulation.

(53) The total Union production during the RIP was established at around 11 200 000 tonnes. The Commission established the figure on the basis of the reply to the macroeconomic questionnaire provided by the applicant. As indicated in recital (14) above, three Union producers were selected in the sample, representing more than 17 % of the total Union production of the like product.

(54) The Commission established the Union consumption on the basis of the total sales volume of the Union industry on the Union market, plus total imports into the Union. Sales of the Union industry in the Union market were obtained from the applicant and adjusted where applicable in accordance with verified data provided in the replies of the sampled Union producers for the RIP. As regards imports, the Commission relied on the Article 14(6) database.

(56) Union consumption increased between years 2018 and 2019 by 5 %, slightly decreased in 2020 to further increase in the RIP. Fluctuations in the consumption during 2020 and the RIP were the result of the outbreak of the COVID-19 resulting in the reduction of activity of economic operators, resulting in a decrease of consumption, followed by the resumption of economic activities.

(57) Union consumption increased overall by 8 % over the period considered.

(58) The Commission established the volume of imports on the basis of the Article 14(6) database. The market share of the imports was established on the basis of the share of these imports in the total Union consumption as set out in section 5.2.

(60) Imports of the product under review from Belarus more than doubled over the period considered, from 72 000 – 80 000 tonnes in 2018 to 200 000 – 210 000 tonnes in the RIP. The market share of the imports from Belarus showed a similar development as the volume of imports and increased significantly every year, from 0,6 % – 0,8 % in 2018 to 1,8 % – 2,1 % in the RIP.

(61) The Commission established the prices of imports on the basis of Article 14(6) database.