Mexico starts anti-dumping inquiry into South Korean CRC imports

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Posco, Hyundai Hysco and Dongbu Steel are all involved in the case, which will investigate products of widths above 600mm and thicknesses below 3mm, the economy ministry said last week in the country’s official gazette.

The investigation will be opened following a request from Ternium México, which on July 6 submitted a petition to the Mexican Unit of Foreign Trade Practices complaining that South Korean CRC had been dumped into Mexico, causing loss to the local steel industry.

The Unit of Foreign Trade Practices will start the investigation and hold a public hearing on June 12 next year.

Ternium noted that, between April 1, 2011, and March 31, 2012 – the proposed period for the dumping investigation – significant volumes of CRC imports from South Korea entered the Mexican market.

Imports have been affecting Ternium in the galvanizing sector, the steelmaker complained.

“The volume of imports from South Korea is ten times the volume sold by Ternium in the galvanized segment,” it said.

Between January 2007 and March 2012, the period proposed for analysis of damage to the local industry, “total imports of cold rolled steel to Mexico grew by 80%, from 510,476 tonnes in 2007 to 919,275 tonnes in 2011, with average annual growth of 16%”, according the country’s steel association, Canacero.

“The growth of imports of cold rolled steel from South Korea proved to be explosive,” Canacero continued, “registering a growth rate of 1,230%, from 31,775 tonnes in 2007 to 422,622 tonnes in 2012.”

In this context, the report refers to 2012 as covering the financial year from April 2011 to March 2012.

South Korean exports to Mexico thus registered average annual growth of 94% during the period proposed for analysis, it added.