Malaysian construction industry welcomes proposed AD duty on HRC imports

BEIJING (Scrap Monster): The Malaysian Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) has welcomed the government’s proposal to impose anti-dumping duties on imports of Hot Rolled Coils (HRC) from China, Indonesia and Korea. The body noted that the proposed duty would prove beneficial for the domestic construction sector as well as domestic HRC producers in the country.

The Malaysian International Trade and Industry (MITI) had recently announced provisional anti-dumping duties in the range between 3.15% and 29.37% on HRC imports from China, Indonesia and South Korea. The announced duty was for a period of 120 days with effect from October 17th. The government had also announced that it plans to raise the anti-dumping duties after analyzing the effectiveness of the preliminary duties.

The decision followed complaint filed by Megasteel Sdn Bhd, alleging that the three countries were involved in flooding the Malaysian market with products at a cheaper rate than domestic prices. The overwhelming cheap imports from these countries, especially China, have materially damaged the domestic HRC industry in the country, it stated.

The Malaysian MITI will monitor the effectiveness of provisional AD duty imposed recently, before forwarding any recommendation to hike the anti-dumping duty. However, MITI stated that appropriate decision will be taken at the right time in order to safeguard the interests of the domestic steel industry.