The Commerce Ministry has urged the steel industry to work together to build up the sector so that it can compete in the changing world instead of seeking government protection.
Duangporn Rodphaya, director-general of the ministry's Foreign Trade Department, said the department had imposed anti-dumping measures on imported Chinese steel more than 10 times since the implementation of the Anti-Dumping Act in 1999.
"The global steel industry is unbalanced, with several steel-producing countries struggling to survive. The Thai steel industry has been adversely affected," she said.
However, anti-dumping measures should not always be the last resort and need to be imposed carefully and transparently in order to be fair to both Thailand and China, Mrs Duangporn said.
Steel dumped on the Thai market is cheaper than market prices and hurts local producers.
Before imposing anti-dumping measures, the department needs to find evidence of dumping, the exact damage to the local industry and the link between imported items and damage to the industry, said Mrs Duangporn.
Thai producers, especially those in the steel industry, should realise that anti-dumping measures cannot be imposed by the government any time it wants, she said.
Moreover, the anti-dumping tariff rate cannot be imposed at any rate the government wants. The rate has to based on the difference between the prices of imported items and the prices of the same products sold in the domestic market that were hurt, she said.
"The Thai steel industry has been the sector to benefit most from anti-dumping measures in recent years. However, the industry should know that the measures are only temporary healing measures that they should not rely on forever," said Mrs Duangporn.
She said the right way forward for the steel industry was to work together to strengthen the industry as a whole cluster in order to compete well on the global market when the situation of supply and demand reaches equilibrium.
"Anti-dumping measures were designed to help protect the industry in the short term only. In fact, the industry, including the upstream, middle stream and downstream sectors, should work together to improve its efficiency and cut production costs in order to survive in the long term," said Mrs Duangporn.