TAIPEI: Malaysia has imposed anti-dumping tariffs on steel companies from four countries, including Taiwan, after accusing them of selling their cold rolled stainless steel products at unfairly low prices, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).
The MOEA’s Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) said in a statement Monday that Malaysia’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry issued a preliminary ruling on Oct. 11 accusing steel firms from Taiwan, China and South Korea and Thailand of unfair trade practices.
Malaysia said the companies were dumping their cold rolled stainless steel in the Malaysian market, and hit Taiwanese companies with anti-dumping duties ranging between 13.77 percent and 52.17 percent, starting from Oct. 12.
The provisional punishment will continue until Feb. 8, 2018, the BOFT said. Malaysian authorities are scheduled to come up with a final decision on the case 120 days after the preliminary ruling was issued, the BOFT said.
Among the six affected Taiwanese steel companies that were the respondents in the case, Chien Shing Stainless Steel Co. (千興不銹鋼) was hit with the highest tariff of 52.17 percent, while Walsin Lihwa Corp. (華新麗華) faces the lowest 13.77 percent tariff, the BOFT said.
Other Taiwanese companies not among the six respondents to the case that sell cold rolled stainless steel products to Malaysia will have the 52.17 percent anti-dumping duty assessed on their products, the BOFT added.
According to the BOFT, Malaysia launched an investigation into the alleged unfair trading practices of steel exporters from the four countries in May after they were accused of dumping their products in Malaysia from October 2015 to September 2016.
Taiwan sold US$47.76 million and US$28.63 million worth of cold rolled stainless steel to Malaysia in 2015 and 2016, accounting for 41.15 percent and 39.35 percent of the country’s total imports of those products during the two years, the BOFT said, citing Malaysian customs statistics.
