EU scraps RP steel nuts from anti-dumping probe

The European Union (EU) has scrapped steel nuts exported by the Philippines from the list of products being investigated on anti-dumping charges.

In a report to Trade and Industry Undersecretary Thomas Aquino, trade attaché to Belgium John Paul Iñigo said the European Commission’s (EC) Directorate-General on Trade decided to exclude Philippine-made steel nuts in its investigation on stainless steel fasteners that are being dumped in the EU.

"This is good news to Philippine exporters of stainless steel nuts to the EU, as they can ship their products without being charged anti-dumping measures. We will continue to actively support exporters who experience authentic difficulties in competitively accessing foreign markets," Aquino said.

In Aug. 2004, the EC initiated anti-dumping proceedings on imports of stainless steel fasteners from China, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan based on a complaint lodged by the European Industrial Fasteners Institute that the product is being dumped, causing material damage to EU’s steel industry.

However, in the course of investigation, the German importer/distributor association argued that steel nuts should be excluded from the scope of investigation because of the lack of production of stainless steel nuts in the EC.

Bolts, nuts, and screws are components of stainless steel fasteners, which are used mechanically to join two or more elements.

They are usually for applications where resistance to both atmosphere and chemical corrosion is necessary and where hygiene may be essential such as equipment for processing and storing food products, manufacture of medical equipment, plants in the chemical industry and shipbuilding, among others.

Since all of the imports from the Philippines consist of stainless steel nuts, it was decided that the products be excluded from the investigation and that the anti-dumping proceedings involving the Philippines terminated.

Anti-dumping measures were created to counter dumping practices.

Dumping occurs when manufacturers from an exporting country sell goods in the importing country below the sales price of the exporting country’s domestic market, or below the cost of production.

Anti-dumping measures are considered as trade defense instruments that may be used by countries, in accordance with a WTO (World Trade Organization) agreement, to challenge the import of goods where they are seen to be unfair foreign competition.

Last year, the Philippines exported about $2.8 million worth of steel nuts. The EU accounts for about 96 percent of the country’s total exports of the product.

The biggest markets in the EU are Germany, $1.8 million (64.45 percent); Italy, $0.67 million (23.60 percent); Spain, $0.17 million (4.17 percent) and Great Britain, $0.059 million (2.09 percent).