The EC has proposed slightly lower definitive anti-dumping (AD) duties on imports of hot-rolled coils (HRC) from Egypt's Ezz Steel and Japan's Nippon Steel.
Ezz's rate has been cut to 11.7pc from the provisional value in place since 7 April 2025 of 12.8pc. The EC had initially proposed a duty on the producer of 15.6pc, but this was subsequently reduced following an appeal. Some of the errors in calculating the duty included omission of transactions and use of irrelevant exchange rates, Ezz had said.
Japanese producer Nippon Steel's duty is reduced to 30.4pc, from 31.8pc. Other co-operating companies' rates are cut to 30.4pc from 31.1pc previously, while Tokyo Steel's rate was kept unchanged at 6.9pc. All other imports originating in Japan will face a duty of 30.4pc instead of 31.8pc.
The duty on Vietnam is proposed flat at 12.1pc.
India was exempted in the provisional stage of the anti-dumping investigation, due to no evidence of dumping, as was Vietnam's Hoa Phat. European steel association Eurofer contested the lack of measures, which the EC rejected.
Imports from Japan, Vietnam and Egypt have declined steadily since July last year. All three countries import under the EU's ‘other countries' HRC quota, with their allocations typically exhausting within a day of the quota's reset. In July 2024, imports from the three countries stood at over 500,000t, but in April 2025 stood at just 70,000t. Safeguards data tracked by Argus shows that in July under 20,000t of HRC cleared from Egypt, and none was imported from Vietnam or Japan.
The definitive duties are expected to enter into effect in October, but could be adjusted after the July disclosure. The EC said no retroactive duties will be collected.
