Commercial Information Circulars

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Ref : EIC 230/2/3/2/13

17 April 2009

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 202/2009

European Union (EU)* : Termination of the Anti-dumping Proceeding Concerning Imports of Stainless Steel Cold-rolled Flat Products Originating in, inter alia, the Mainland of China

Further to Commercial Information Circular No. 98/2008 of 1 February 2008, the European Commission (the Commission) published a decision to terminate the anti-dumping proceeding concerning imports of stainless steel cold-rolled flat products originating in, inter alia, the Mainland of China. The decision can be accessed through the following link :
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:098:0039:0042:EN:PDF

DETAILS

2. The Commission disclosed in an Interim Report on 4 November 2008 that the investigation established provisionally the existence of dumping but it did not conclude on the existence of a material link between the dumped imports and any injury suffered by Community industry, and underlined the need to investigate further the aspect of possible threat of injury. It was considered appropriate not to impose any provisional anti-dumping duty but to continue the investigation. Subsequently, the complainant formally withdrew its complaint by a letter on 4 March 2009. According to the complainant, the withdrawal was prompted by the current market situation for the Community industry which differed significantly from the market situation in which the complaint was filed. It does not want to pursue the case based on an analysis of historic data that no longer fully reflect the current market situation. The Commission considers it appropriate to monitor imports into the Community of the product concerned to obtain information which would enable it to react quickly if necessary, for instance, for the initiation of a new proceeding provided that there is sufficient prima facie evidence of injurious dumping. The Commission also notes that should there be a new proceeding, an expeditious investigation may be appropriate. The monitoring period should apply up to 24 months from the publication of the termination of the present proceeding (i.e. 17 April 2009). The Commission therefore concludes that the anti-dumping proceeding should be terminated without the imposition of anti-dumping measures.

BACKGROUND

3. The Commission initiated the proceeding on 1 February 2008 on the basis of a complaint lodged by EUROFER representing more than 25% of the total Community production of stainless steel cold-rolled float products. It was alleged that imports of the product concerned originating in, inter alia, the Mainland of China were being dumped, thereby causing material injury to the Community industry.

ENQUIRIES

4. For enquiries concerning the contents of this circular, please contact the undersigned at telephone number 2398 5350.

Yours faithfully,

(Miss Karen CHAN)
for Director-General of Trade and Industry

* The EU includes Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.