2018.01.1615:03:00UTC+00BRAZIL: Government Defends China And Russia In Steel Dispute

The technical report from the Brazilian Finance Ministry against the adoption of antidumping measures to steel imports from China and Russia is "awkward," said the Brazilian Steel Institute (IABr), which represents the country's steelmakers.

The IABR says that it is "strange" that the government disclosed the report only three days before a meeting of the government committee to debate the matter.

The organization also claims that the report considers "almost exclusively the information and sources provided by a single steel consumer," without consulting the other parties involved.

The IABr also criticized the assessment that Chinese and Russian companies could prevent the importation of hot-rolled flat products since there are several alternative sources of supply (India, Japan, Korea, the United States, the European Union, among others).

On Monday, the Brazilian Finance Minister said that applying definitive anti-dumping measures to imports of Russian and Chinese hot-rolled steel would be detrimental to local consumers, which would face short-term difficulties to relocate their supply-chain.

"The definitive anti-dumping measures would also bring harmful effects to the national economy since hot-rolled steel consumers - like automakers and auto parts and electronics manufacturers - represent a more emblematic GDP share than the steelmaking subsector," said the Finance Ministry.

The report also says that lower demand had an impact on hot-rolled steel supply conditions than imports from China and Russia measures could increase inflation and that the Chinese and Russian steel dumping is not aimed at enhancing their market power.

The practice of dumping in Chinese and Russian steel industries has been investigated by the Department of Trade Defense (Decom) of the Ministry of Development, Industry, and Commerce (MDIC) since 2016, at the request of the IABr and members such as Companhia Sider?rgica Nacional (CSN) and Gerdau. Decom had already released an assessment confirming dumping practices.

According to the IABr, there is global overcapacity of 735 million tons of steel, of which over 60% come from China and Russia.

"Almost all steel-producing countries have already taken a trade defense measure against steel products from China and Russia," IABr said in a statement, adding that it expects the Brazilian government to pass the anti-dumping tariffs.