Vietnam is excluded from the measure because it is a developing country with an import market share of less than 3% - Illustrative photo
According to the Department of Trade Remedies ( Ministry of Industry and Trade ), the Vietnamese Delegation in Geneva said that the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC) has issued a notice to apply temporary safeguard measures on corrosion resistant steel coils imported into the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). Vietnam is excluded from the measure because it is a developing country with an import market share of less than 3%.
The product under investigation is Corrosion resistant steel coil classified under the Republic of South Africa import commodity codes 7210.61.20, 7210.61.30, 7225.92.25 and 7225.92.35. The initiation date of the investigation is 17 January 2025 (the case was previously initiated on 27 December 2024, but was then terminated and re-initiated on the same day). The investigation period is from May 2021 to April 2024.
In its Preliminary Conclusion, the South African International Trade Commission stated that imports had increased sharply, suddenly, markedly and recently during the investigation period, with an increase of 17.16% from 2022 to 2023. Imports mainly came from China.
In addition, the South African International Trade Commission has preliminarily concluded that the SACU manufacturing industry has suffered serious injury during the period of investigation. Indicators such as output, domestic sales, profits, market share, capacity utilisation and employment have all declined significantly during the period of investigation.
Although there are a number of other factors contributing to the damage, such as declining demand for steel, reduced infrastructure investment, increased input costs, constraints in logistics and energy supply, etc., these are not the direct causes of damage to the domestic manufacturing industry.
ITAC believes that a number of factors have led to the sudden increase in imports into the Republic of South Africa, such as overcapacity and the economic downturn in China since 2021 which has led to increased exports into the Republic of South Africa.
Tariffs imposed by countries to protect their domestic steel industry have resulted in China's steel exports being diverted to countries with lower tariffs. Based on the above content, ITAC proposed to apply a temporary safeguard duty of 52.34% for a period of 200 days until the final conclusion of the case.
Regarding the exclusion from safeguard measures, according to WTO regulations, developing countries with an import market share of less than 3% and total import volume of these countries not greater than 9% can be excluded from safeguard measures. Vietnam is on the list of countries excluded because it satisfies the criteria of having an import volume of less than 3% into the Republic of South Africa.
According to the Trade Remedies Authority, the above preliminary results will help Vietnamese enterprises continue to maintain the export of anti-corrosion steel products to the SACU bloc in the coming time. Enterprises and associations need to continue to monitor the developments of the case until the final conclusion is reached.
Anh Tho
Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/nam-phi-khong-ap-thue-tu-ve-tam-thoi-doi-voi-thep-cuon-viet-nam-102250709094328784.htm
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