Vietnam imposes anti-dumping tax on Chinese cold-rolled steel

 Vietnam imposes anti-dumping tax on Chinese cold-rolled steel

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam has imposed anti-dumping duties on some coil or sheet cold-rolled steel products that originated from China for five years starting Dec. 28, its industry and trade ministry said on Wednesday.

The duties, specifically for coils or sheets of a width of less than 1,600 mm and between 0.108 mm-2.55 mm thickness, come after the ministry finished an anti-dumping investigation that started in September last year, on behalf of the domestic industry.

The probe concluded that cold-rolled steel imported from China reached 272,073 tonnes in the period, accounting for 65.5% of the total cold-rolled steel imports into Vietnam, the ministry said in a statement.

“The domestic manufacturing industry is under threat of considerable damages as key indicators such as profit, inventory and market share are poor,” it added.

It said the anti-dumping tax would range from 4.43% to 25.22%.

The Southeast Asian country in 2019 had imposed an anti-dumping tax of 3.45% to 34.27% on some Chinese steel products.

Vietnam has consistently said it would crack down on goods of Chinese origin illegally labelled “Made in Vietnam” by exporters seeking to avoid U.S. tariffs on products made in China.

Last week, Vietnam was named as a currency manipulator by the United States, a move that trade experts said could pave the way for President Donald Trump to impose tariffs on Vietnamese goods before he leaves office in January.

Vietnam relies on China, its largest trading partner, for materials and equipment for its labour-intensive manufacturing sector.

Vietnam’s trade deficit with China reached $31.4 billion in the first 11 months of this year, slightly up the same period last year, official data showed.

Reporting by Phuong Nguyen; Editing by Martin Petty