EU hits China, Russia with steel anti-dumping duties

The European Union on Thursday hit China and Russia with anti-dumping duties on cold rolled steel imports after EU producers complained they were being forced out of the market.

The European Commission said the levies, announced provisionally in February, will run for five years as Europe tries to cope with a global steel glut largely driven by massive Chinese output.

"In the wake of the global steel overcapacity crisis, the Commission is applying the trade defence instruments to re-establish a level playing field between EU and foreign producers," it said in a statement.

Industry uses cold rolled steel extensively to make all sorts of goods and appliances, from automobiles to refrigerators.

The Commission said the duties on Chinese cold rolled steel will range from 19.7 percent to 22.1 percent, and from 18.7 percent to 36.1 percent for Russian companies.

It said the EU has more than 100 trade defence measures in place, 37 of them targeting unfair imports of steel products of which 15 are Chinese.

The EU has had a series of trade disputes with China, its second-largest trading partner and which makes more than half the world's steel.

Beijing has not been slow to respond to what it sees as unfair measures and late last month imposed anti-dumping tariffs on some steel imports from the EU, Japan and South Korea.

EU relations with Russia, another important trade partner, have been soured by the Ukraine crisis and subsequent sanctions imposed against Moscow.

Russian Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said Thursday's decision had been made without listening to Moscow's side of the argument and threatened to take the case to the World Trade Organization.