Reuters news on August 6, the European Commission said on Wednesday that it has expanded the scope of anti-dumping duties on imported Chinese corrosion-resistant steel products to prevent steel producers from evading current tariffs by slightly modifying their export materials.

In February 2018, the European Union imposed a tariff of 17.2%-27.9% on certain corrosion-resistant steel imports from China in response to its so-called unfairly low prices.

The European Commission stated that these anti-dumping measures have reduced imports of affected products to almost zero, but at the same time, imports of other corrosion-resistant steel products have climbed to about 1 million tons, or 650 million euros per year (about 769.2 million USD). The committee launched an investigation into the issue in November 2019.

The European Commission said: “A specific anti-circumvention investigation has now confirmed that anti-dumping measures are the only reason for the aforementioned changes.”

The expanded tariffs will apply to corrosion-resistant steel products modified with magnesium, silicon alloys, additional surface treatment or trace element composition.

The European Commission stated that the expansion of anti-dumping duties will apply to all Chinese exporters except one cooperative company. But the statement did not mention the name of the exempted company.