Tel :
Tel :
According to foreign media outlet The Korea Times, South Korea has recently been implementing numerous protectionist measures to bolster its ailing domestic steel industry.
SeAH Besteel and SeAH CSS, NK K/D47 steel two steelmaking subsidiaries of SeAH Group, announced on Monday that they have filed anti-dumping complaints against some imported Chinese special steel bars.
The move comes shortly after the South Korean government, at the request of Hyundai Steel, decided to impose anti-dumping duties on Chinese thick steel plates and hot-rolled steel sheets to address an oversupply of low-quality, low-priced steel in the South Korean market.
SeAH Besteel warned that a massive influx of Chinese specialty steel bars could undermine the competitiveness of South Korean companies, NK K/D47 steel as these materials are crucial to the automotive, defense, heavy equipment, aerospace, and nuclear power industries.
"As the United States, Europe, and India have recently tightened anti-dumping sanctions on Chinese special steel bars, we expect Chinese exports of these products to South Korea to increase further," said an official at SeAH Besteel. "By establishing minimum protection for the special steel bar industry, we hope South Korea can secure material supply sovereignty and improve its fundamental competitiveness in materials, parts, and equipment."
According to statistics from the Korea Iron and Steel Association, Chinese products accounted for 92% of South Korea's total annual imports of 750,000 tons of special steel bars last year. Notably, while Chinese special steel bar imports increased from 450,000 tons in 2022 to 670,000 tons in 2024, the import price of such products has fallen by 24% over the past two years.
SeAH CSS called this "price distortion" and cited it as one of the main reasons for the company's 91% drop in operating profit, which plummeted from 125.7 billion won in 2022 to 11.4 billion won (US$8.2 million) in 2024.
Industry insiders expect South Korea to introduce further measures to protect its domestic steel industry. Despite the recent US-South Korea agreement to reduce reciprocal tariffs and automobile tariffs to 15%, the US still maintains a 50% tariff on South Korean steel, aluminum, and other metal products.
Furthermore, Dongkuk CM, NK K/D47 steel the coated and galvanized materials subsidiary of Dongkuk Steel Group, is considering filing an anti-dumping lawsuit against color-coated and galvanized steel from China. The company is concerned that Chinese companies may use domestically produced hot-rolled steel to produce color-coated products for export to South Korea, thereby circumventing South Korean import tariffs on hot-rolled steel.
Lawmakers from South Korea's ruling and main opposition parties also jointly introduced the so-called "K-Steel Bill" on Monday, aiming to revive the struggling domestic steel industry and promote its green transition.
