The Anti-Dumping Commission of Australia (ADC) began investigating against galvanised steel exported into Australia from Vietnam, India and Malaysia on October 7.

As part of the Australian Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, the ADC took up the case on August 22, 2016, at the request of BlueScope Steel Limited, an Australian steel manufacturer, after the company alleged galvanised steel (steel with a protective anti rust zinc coat) from Vietnam and other countries was being dumped in the Australian market.

The application from BlueScope cited material injury from the steel exports to Australia’s domestic industry, beginning in 2013 and still ongoing.

However, the Vietnamese government claimed that the argument from BlueScope for the existence of material injury was not convincing.

The Vietnamese government mentioned a majority of economic factors and indices within the company’s own submission to the ADC which indicated a 1,000 per cent growth in profit for BlueScope Steel between 2013 and 2016, which the company failed to explain in lieu of the impact of imports from Vietnam.

The Vietnamese government also mentioned a lack of adequate evidence from the company to initiate the investigation, with evidence based mostly on assumptions over how Vietnam’s exported steel would receive benefits and not on factual grounds, even subsidies for Vietnamese steel in Australia was assumed to be just above negligible.

The parties concerned are required by the ADC to submit detailed summaries to the commission, without disclosing confidential information or causing harm to the other party.

A temporary decision on the matter will be issued 60 days after the investigation is initiated, when temporary measures to prevent dumping may be taken.

A statement consisting of primary data will be issued on January 25, 2017 or later with permission from the Parliamentary Secretary. The parties concerned may make comments on the statement in the following 20 days.

The last report by the ADC with suggestions on the matter will be issued on March 11, 2017 or later. The final decision must be made in the following 30 days or later if there are extraordinary factors preventing the decision from being made.