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The Ministry of Commerce Photo: VCG

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced on Monday that, after receiving and reviewing a request from the domestic industry, it will conduct a one-year sunset review investigation of the anti-dumping measures applicable to imports of stainless steel billet and hot-rolled stainless steel plate (coil) originating from the EU, the UK, South Korea and Indonesia, starting from Tuesday.

The investigation is expected to be concluded before July 23, 2025.

Chinese experts said that the probe is lawful, and is being made in response to the reasonable requests of Chinese industry participants for maintaining a fair and sustainable market environment.

Based on recommendations by the MOFCOM, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council, the cabinet, has decided that during the sunset review probe of the anti-dumping measures, duties will continue to be levied on imports of the corresponding products, according to the previous scope and rates announced in July 2019.

In light of the previous tax rates, products from all corresponding companies in the EU as well as the UK will face 43 percent tariffs, while the tariff for South Korea's POSCO will be 23.1 percent, and it will be 103.1 percent for all other South Korean companies. Tariffs of 20.2 percent will be applied to all Indonesian companies, according to the notice on Monday.

Starting from Tuesday, anti-dumping measures applicable to corresponding stainless steel products from Japan will expire, the MOFCOM said in the notice.

These stainless steel products have two main uses. One is as a raw material for cold-rolled stainless steel products. The other is as a final product for direct sale, mainly in industries such as shipbuilding, containers and railways, some of the core pillars of China's manufacturing power.

The main purpose of this review is to determine whether terminating the anti-dumping measures on stainless steel imports from the relevant countries and regions could result in the continuation or recurrence of dumping and harm to the domestic industry, according to the MOFCOM.

China's anti-dumping investigations and measures are legitimate and compliant with WTO rules, and requests for anti-dumping probes by several major domestic stainless steel companies are rational and lawful, Wang Guoqing, research director at the Beijing Lange Steel Information Research Center, told the Global Times on Monday.

"The objective of the probe is to seek to provide a fairer competitive environment for domestic enterprises," Wang said.

Domestic industry enterprises are facing challenges as their profits contract, Wang said. The domestic companies' demand for anti-dumping measures is a reasonable request.

"The implementation of anti-dumping measures allows Chinese steel companies to resist the disorderly competition caused by imported resources from certain countries, providing more survival and development space for domestic enterprises and stable support for their operations and growth," Wang noted.