Baosteel urges U.S. regulator to reject complaint
With the support of the government and steel industry associations, Chinese steelmakers should defend their rights, experts said on Sunday, after a leading domestic steelmaker, Baoshan Iron & Steel Co (Baosteel), filed a petition urging the U.S. trade regulator to reject a complaint.
"Never before has a single company sought to use this agency to erect what would be a total blockade of steel trade from an entire country," Bloomberg reported on Saturday, citing a filing by Baosteel's U.S. unit that was sent to the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) in Washington on Wednesday.
U.S. Steel Corp filed a complaint with the ITC on April 26, under Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, against around 40 Chinese steelmakers that export carbon steel and alloyed steel products to the U.S.
The ITC has up to 30 days to make a decision on whether it will initiate a case.
In the complaint, Baosteel is alleged to have conspired to fix prices, steal business secrets and forge products' countries of origin, according to a statement Baosteel posted on its website on April 29.
Baosteel said in its statement that the company's operations are completely market--oriented and it strictly abides by the laws and regulations of the places in which it is operating in its daily business and respects the market rules.
The allegations made by U.S. Steel are "groundless, and do not at all conform to the reality," said Baosteel.
"U.S. Steel's complaint is totally unreasonable. It's appropriate for Baosteel to fight for its rights … based on the regulations," Wang Guoqing, research director at the Beijing Lange Steel Information Research Center, told the Global Times on Sunday. "With the support of the Chinese authorities, it's quite possible that Chinese steelmakers could win the case."
Hunan Valin Steel Co, another Chinese steelmaker named in the case, said U.S. Steel's actions are unreasonable, according to the report from Bloomberg.
Charges of intellectual property infringement are groundless, according to a statement released by China's Ministry of Commerce on April 27, which said that China hopes the ITC will reject the U.S. company's charges.
"In 2015, Chinese steel exports increased a lot compared with the previous year, which has caused dissatisfaction in many countries," Wang Bei, a research manager from mysteel.com, told the Global Times on Sunday.
Wang said this increase was a major cause of increased steel trade frictions this year.
China exported 112 million tons of steel products in 2015, up about 20 percent year-on-year, according to data released by the customs agency in January.
However, steel exports in 2015 only accounted for about 14.5 percent of all steel output in China, while they accounted for nearly 40 percent in some Western countries, the Xinhua News Agency reported in April, citing Zhang Ji, assistant minister of commerce.
The Group of Seven (G7) nations will take steps to deal with the global steel overcapacity that many blame on China, Reuters reported on Friday.
"Steel overcapacity is a global issue caused by many reasons including an economic slowdown globally as well as declining demand," said Wang, the research director, noting that it's unfair to blame it all on China's steel sector.
Meanwhile, China is making efforts to reduce steel output and upgrade technology, said Wang.
In the next five years, China is expected to make a reduction of 100 million to 150 million tons of crude steel capacity, according to a statement released by the central government in February.
