On November 16, 2020, the Department of Foreign Trade of Thailand announced the initiation of an anti-dumping investigation on Hot rolled steel coil and Hot rolled steel sheet originating from Vietnam and Egypt under the Foreign Anti-Dumping and Subsidy Act B.E. 2542.

The petition is lodged by Sahaviriya Steel Industries Public Company Limited, G Steel Public Company Limited, GJ Steel Company Limited, Public Company Limited and Sahaviriya Plate Mill Public Company Limited, representing the domestic Hot rolled steel industry.
Accordingly, the item under investigation is Hot rolled steel coil and Hot rolled steel sheet with a thickness of 0.9 – 100mm, width of 100 – 3,200 mm and the subjected product includes 135 HS codes in total, followed by 7208, 7211, 7225, 7226.

The requesting party provided evidence alleging that Hot rolled steel coil and Hot rolled steel sheet shipments originating from Vietnam and Egypt dumped into Thailand, causing serious damage to the Hot rolled steel industry in Thailand, and determined that: Vietnam’s products are dumped into the Thai market at a rate of 15.55% of CIF price and for Egypt is 9.51% of CIF price.

The Investigation Authority begins the investigation from the effective date of this notice, which is November 16, 2020. Issues considered include:

– The number of imported products under investigation from Vietnam and Egypt;
– The capacity of the exporter whose volume of investigated goods is exported has increased significantly;
– The import of investigated products affects the domestic selling price;
– The inventory of subject product; 

To analyze and evaluate allegations of dumping behavior by Vietnamese and Egyptian exporters as well as damage to the domestic industry and its causal relationship, the Questionnaire is public simultaneously with the notice for all related and interested parties. Interested parties wishing to be answered can send a written request to the Department of Foreign Trade within 15 days from the effective day of this notice.

It is expected that after 3-4 months from the date of initiation of the investigation, the Investigation Authority will issue a preliminary conclusion on the imposition of anti-dumping duty.

Enterprises exporting subject products must pay attention to comprehensive cooperation with the Investigation Authority in the process of handling the case, immediately stop dumping into Thailand market. In the long term, exporting enterprises should build an export strategy in the direction of market diversification, to avoid overheating in one market. Strengthen competition by quality and limit competition by cheap prices. 

Finally, in Vietnam there is only one Hot rolled steel exporter, it is Formosa. If the goods are subject to anti-dumping duty, Thailand market will surely become more difficult for this factory.

Source: Mrs Steel