Brazil has extended the conclusion of its antidumping investigation on imports of hot rolled coils originating from China for up to 6 months starting from 21 November. This is according to a document from the local foreign trade secretariat of the Brazilian Ministry of Industry (Secex/MDIC) monitored by Kallanish.

According to Secex/MDIC, the extension takes into account the "… positive preliminary determination of actionable subsidies and damage to the domestic industry resulting from them."

The authority did not recommend the application of provisional compensatory measures during the investigation. The investigation begun in July 2016 after a request by ArcelorMittal, CSN and Gerdau. The steelmakers reported dumping margins of $256.35/t for Chinese-origin coils.

The investigated products are classified under HS codes: 7208.10.00, 7208.25.00, 7208.26.10, 7208.26.90, 7208.27.10, 7208.27.90, 7208.36.10, 7208.36.90, 7208.37.00, 7208.38.10, 7208.38.90, 7208.39.10, 7208.39.90, 7208.40.00, 7208.53.00, 7208.54.00, 7208.90.00, 7225.30.00 and 7225.40.90.

As reported, representatives from the Brazilian machine manufacturing sector have asked their government not to impose anti-dumping duties on imports of Chinese and Russian-origin hot rolled coils. A statement by 18 large steel-consuming companies suggests that AD measures will allow domestic steelmakers to raise prices further.

According to data issued by local steelmakers’ association Instituto Aço Brasil (IAB), during the January-August period, imports of flat steel totalled 955,000t, or 131.8% more on-year. In August alone, Brazil imported 136,000t of flat steel, up by 130.5% y-o-y.