South Korean steel industry intends to launch an anti-dumping investigation against Chinese steel

In 2024, low-priced Chinese imported products continue to enter the South Korean market, bringing increasing competitive pressure to the local steel industry. Faced with increasing competition, industry representatives strongly demand anti-dumping cases against products such as heavy-duty steel plates and hot-rolled steel plates from China SPHT4 steel.

According to data from the Korea Steel Association, the quantity of steel products imported into South Korea in April 2024 reached 5.427 million tons, a decrease of 2.8% compared to the same period last year. However, the import volume of steel products from China increased by 1.3% to 3.195 million tons, and China's share in the South Korean steel market increased from 56.5% to 58.9%. At the same time, the price of steel SPHT4 steel products from China is 10% to 20% lower than locally produced products. In response to imported products from China, the local steel industry plans to initiate anti-dumping investigations. Currently, anti-dumping complaints have been filed against heavy-duty steel plates. It is understood that in the past two years, the import volume of heavy-duty steel plates from China has increased by three times to 435000 tons.

Some industry representatives advocate that anti-dumping cases should also be filed against a large number of imported hot-rolled SPHT4 steel plates and other products, as hot-rolled steel plates account for the largest share of imported steel products. Other representatives also believe that anti-dumping cases should not be limited to heavy-duty steel plates and hot-rolled steel plates, but should also raise trade barriers for other low-cost imported products, such as coated plates, color coated plates, threaded steel, and section steel.