Britain proposes dropping anti-dumping measures against Chinese steel

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) on Wednesday proposed dropping anti-dumping measures on Chinese reinforcement steel, saying more imports were needed to meet a fall in supply from other countries because of the war in Ukraine.

The measures have been in place since 2016, but the TRA said maintaining them would not be in the economic interests of Britain given high demand for the steel from its construction sector, and a fall in supply from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

The three countries supplied 27% of Britain’s Rebar imports in 2020-21, the TRA said, and this would likely drop substantially as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Britain’s subsequent sanctions against Russia and Belarus.

The TRA said keeping the measures on reinforcing steel – known as HFP Rebar – from China would have a “severe” economic impact on Britain.

“Our judgement is that the impact on the British economy of higher prices would significantly outweigh the impact on the sole UK producer of rebar of removing tariffs on Chinese imports,” said TRA Chief Executive Oliver Griffiths.

The advice from the TRA is subject to a 30-day consultation period before it produces a final recommendation, which is put to the British government for a decision.

(Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Jan Harvey)