Since the European Steel Association (EUROFER) complained last year that China, Taiwan, and Indonesia had dumped stainless steel hot-rolled coil (HRC) at prices lower than fair value, the European Commission started an investigation in August 2019 and later on announced a temporary anti-dumping (AD) duty on the countries in April this year.

After half a year, the European Commission has just announced an official AD duty on stainless steel hot-rolled flat products imported from Indonesia, China, and Taiwan. However, the tax rate has been lowered from the previous temporary AD duty rates.

Currently, Taiwan has the lowest tax rate, only 4.1%-7.5%, which brings Taiwan a new advantage in expanding the EU market.

Both Yieh United Steel Corp. (Yusco) and Tang Eng Iron Works Co., Ltd., two leading upstream stainless steel manufacturers in Taiwan, stated that Taiwan failed in price competition with China before; however, Taiwan now has the advantages in the EU market due to the significantly lower tax rate than that set for China and Indonesia.