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Refractories industry fights unfair dumping charges by US

By Cai Muyuan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-08-28 17:59

The Association of China Refractories Industry will make a defense plea over the US anti-dumping investigations on Chinese-imported magnesia carbon bricks (a heat-resistant material used in steel making), said Xu Dianli, vice chairman and secretary-general of the association.

The case was brought forward by Resco Products Inc, a US manufacturer and supplier of heat-resistant materials has requested anti-dumping duties ranging from 112 to 349 percent. The US Commerce Department approved the application on Aug 18.

China's export volume of meg-carbon bricks was steady from 2006 to 2008, with prices rising from year to year, said the Association of China Refractories Industry.

In the first half of 2009, Chinese exports of the bricks to the US slumped by 52.25 percent to less than 200,000 tons while prices contiuned to rise, the association said.

The US would violate the World Trade Organization rules concerning fair trading if it took anti-dumping measures on Chinese meg-carbon bricks exporters, which is also an act of trade protectionism, noted the association.

As by definition, dumping is the act of a manufacturer exporting a product to foreign markets at a price either lower than home market prices or below production costs. However, "with China's steady export volume shown in the statistics, there’s no evidence indicating a dumping act," said Xu.

The steel industry has suffered great losses during the global economic downturn since September, affecting the US market significantly. Its steel output fell drastically by 51.8 percent from January to June this year. The decreased steel output largely reduces the demand of related materials such as mag-carbon bricks.

"Chinese steel industry suffers no less," said Xu. "The export of mag-carbon bricks from China to the US slumped 52.26 percent from January to June this year, down to less than 20,000 tons -- It's a heavy strike for China too," he said. Xu said he believes the US should not place blame on the Chinese for bad conditions caused by the economic crisis.

"We strongly oppose the behavior of unfair competition by using anti-dumping charges as a tool. This kind of trade protectionism will not only harm the benefit of Chinese mag-carbon brick manufacturers, but also would do harm to the US counterparts, especially the US steel industries," Xu said.

The association is organizing Chinese related enterprises to fight the dumping case. "We are fully prepared to do whatever we can to protect our legal rights," Xu said.

Chinese mag-carbon brick manufacturers are mainly located in Northeast China's Liaoning province. A briefing on the anti-dumping investigation was held in Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning province on Aug 10, by the association to create a formal opposition to the case.

The investigation involves more than 30 Chinese companies, and will cause more than $50 million economic losses to the exporters if the appeal is proved, the association says.

Related readings:  New strategy needed in antidumping cases  China to extend anti-dumping measures on catechol from EU  Anti-dumping investigations are protectionism: Expert  EU anti-dumping abuse harms both China, EU

The preliminary verdict will be announced by the International Trade Commission by Sept 14.

The case is one of the latest in a number of complaints brought by US producers against Chinese competitors.

Additionally, the US President Barack Obama will have to decide by Sept 17 whether to restrict tire imports from China in response to a petition filed by union workers.