TRA recommendation on Corrosion Resistant Steel accepted

The Secretary of State for Business and Trade has today (Thursday 20 February) accepted the Trade Remedies Authority’s (TRA) recommendation to maintain an anti-dumping measure on imports of Corrosion Resistant Steel (CRS) from China for a further five years.   

The process of making CRS, which is primarily used in the construction and manufacturing industries, effectively makes the steel rustproof and it is used in the manufacture of such products as domestic appliances, steel vents and fencing. The TRA estimated the UK producer of CRS contributes around £63 million to the UK economy annually.

The TRA opened a transition review into the measure in February 2023, finding that it was likely that dumping of CRS from China would recur if the anti-dumping measure were no longer applied and that UK industry would likely be injured.

As part of its Economic Interest Test, the TRA also considered claims by the UK industry that if the measure were no longer applied, this would have a direct impact on its ability to proceed with decarbonisation projects and contribution to various net zero initiatives in the UK.  

In its final recommendation, the TRA therefore proposed that the level of duties applicable to Chinese exporters remain unchanged, ranging from 17.2% to 27.9%, until at least 9 February 2028.  

The TRA found that following the imposition of the European Union’s measure in 2018, imports into the UK from China fell by 96% from 363,000 metric tonnes in 2016, to 16,000 metric tonnes in 2018.  

Background information

• The TRA is the UK body that investigates whether trade remedy measures are needed to counter unfair import practices and unforeseen surges of imports.  
• Trade remedy investigations were carried out by the EU Commission on the UK’s behalf until the UK left the EU. A number of EU trade remedy measures of interest to UK producers were carried across into UK law when the UK left the EU and the TRA is currently reviewing each one to check if it is suitable for UK needs. View further information on our current transition reviews.  
• Anti-dumping duties allow a country or union to take action against goods which are being sold at less than their normal value – this is defined as the price for ‘like goods’ sold in the exporter’s home market.  
• These measures are one of the three types of trade remedy measures – along with countervailing measures against countervailable subsidies and safeguard measures which address sudden, unforeseen floods of imports – that are allowed under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.  
• Corrosion resistant steel: the goods reviewed were flat rolled, iron/alloy/non alloy steel, aluminium killed (meaning the steel has been deoxidized with aluminium, thus eliminating any reaction between carbon and oxygen during solidification), and then plated or coated by hot dip galvanisation with zinc and/or aluminium and/or magnesium.