TRADE

The government on Friday agreed to continue the collection of anti-dumping duties on H-beam steel from China until October 2016.

The Commerce Ministry last October extended by one year the levy of a 13.9% duty on imported H-beam structural steel.

The anti-dumping and countervailing committee chaired by Vatcharee Vimuktayon, the commerce permanent secretary, extended the penalty again on Friday.

The extension came after local steel makers sought protection from imported Chinese steel, saying the imports hurt sales.

Steel imports from China are about 30% cheaper than locally made steel.

Thailand has production capacity of as much as a million tonnes of H-beam structural steel, but demand is only a few hundred thousand tonnes a year.

According to Ms Vatcharee, the ministry is also considering requests from local steel makers concerning the dumping of boron and chromium steel onto the Thai market.

Tata Steel Plc recently asked the government to impose anti-dumping duties of at least 20% on steel wire from China as the company struggles to compete against subsidised imports that are as much as 14% cheaper than its own products in the local market.

According to Thana Reungsilasing, a vice-president of Tata Steel Plc, Chinese steel wire is priced between 17,000 baht and 18,000 baht a tonne, compared with 21,000 baht for the domestic variety.

Tata says Chinese firms can sell steel wire at below Thai market prices because Beijing subsidises the product with an export tax rebate of 9%.

At the same time, the firms declare their steel wire exports to be a compound of boron and chromium, which qualifies them for import duty exemptions.