Japan Steels Possible to Take AD against Chinese Steel Imports

Hajime Bada, chairman of Japan Iron and Steel Federation and president of JFE Steel, said at the monthly press conference on Tuesday Japanese steel industry might carry out anti-damping duties on steel imports from China if the imports impact Japanese steel market seriously, while he hoped the problem should be solved basically through dialogues. European and US steel industries are already seeking AD actions against Chinese steel products. He said Japanese government has monitored volume and price of steel imports from China since 2005 and Japanese steel industry needs to prepare for AD case with concerned government ministries. Mr. Bada pointed out US steel market price recently decreased for 4 consecutive months due to much inflow of Chinese steel products. He said US steel makers are decreasing their output volume and expected US steel market could recover in a half year. US market price still stays at around US$ 600 for hot rolled steel sheet, higher by about US$ 100 than Asian market price. Mr. Bada referred to Bao Steel’s acquisition for the maker in Hsinchiang Uighur Autonomous Region to increase the output to 30 million tonnes per year. He said several big steel makers could be born with 30 million tonne class output capacity in China, where the total steel output exceeds 400 million tonnes. He expected that China should construct non-excess supply structure and that Chinese makers’ integration would contribute to better-organized market in the country.