EU stainless steel anti-dumping measure against China and Taiwan extended – Stainless Espresso

14 April 2023 – The anti-dumping measure against stainless steel tube and pipe butt-welding fittings originating in China and Taiwan has been extended. Up to 64.9% anti-dumping duties. SHFE nickel continues to rise. And what is behind the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and who is actually affected by it?

SHFE Nickel continues to rise

The currently most traded SHFE nickel contract again gained in price today and continued its upward trend since March 2023, rising by over 5.5%. But the LME Nickel Cash is also up 6% with volatile moves since its low on 23 March 2023. The LME Nickel 3-month is even up by more than 6.3%. At the same time, LME Nickel Stock has fallen to a new all-time low and stocks are down more than 25% since the beginning of 2023. Moreover, most of the LME nickel in storage is said to come only from Russian production.

EU stainless steel anti-dumping measure against China and Taiwan extended

The European Commission (EC) has published the outcome of the anti-dumping expiry review against imports of certain stainless steel tube and pipe butt-welding fittings, whether or not finished, originating in the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan.

The affected stainless steel tube and pipe butt-welding fittings originating in China will continue to be subject to anti-dumping duties of up to 64.9%. Products originating in Taiwan will be subject to up to 12.1%.

Anti-dumping duties also apply to origin Malaysia

At the same time, the EC has extended duties to stainless steel tube and pipe butt-welding fittings originating in Malaysia. In March 2023, the EC published the results of the corresponding anti-circumvention investigation and explicitly referred to the extension in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/809.

EU: Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)

The new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) has been in force in Europe since January 2023. Published at the end of 2022, the CSRD obliges certain companies to report on sustainability from 2024. But not every company has to prepare and submit a sustainability report now, or at all. This is an important point, as sweeping generalisations are often made and important information is omitted.

Avoid unnecessary bureaucratic effort

Since most small and medium-sized enterprises already have to deal with more than enough bureaucracy and do not need to have their time, money and other resources cut by reports that are unnecessary for them, here is a brief summary. (Of course not legally binding, ask your company lawyer if necessary.)

Large companies of public interest

Basically affected companies: This almost always concerns companies of public interest and a certain size in terms of employees, balance sheet total and net turnover. However, since two out of three criteria often have to be met, in the end there are perhaps 12,000 to 50,000 companies left across Europe that have to submit a CSRD at all. Compared to the more than 23 million companies in the EU, this is just 0.2% that have to submit a CSRD.

Which companies will be affected by the CSRD from 2024?

• Large companies with 500 employees or more, which are public interest entities
• Public interest entities that are parent companies of a large group and had more than 500 employees on the reporting date

Which companies will be affected by the CSRD from 2025?

• Large companies that meet two out of three criteria of the following:
  (a) balance sheet total: EUR 20,000,000
  b) net turnover: 40,000,000 EUR
  c) had an average of more than 250 employees in the business year.
• Enterprises whose parent companies meet two out of three criteria of the following criteria:
  (a) balance sheet total: EUR 20,000,000
  (b) net turnover: EUR 40,000,000
  c) had an average of more than 250 employees in the financial year.

Which companies will be affected by the CSRD from 2026?

• Small and medium-sized enterprises, if they are public interest entities and do not qualify as micro-enterprises
• As well as banks and insurance companies

Third country parent companies

Parent companies governed by the law of a third country that have an established subsidiary in the EU and have generated at least EUR 150 million in net sales per year in the last two consecutive years will be subject to the so-called consolidated sustainability reporting requirements from 2024 until the end of 2029.

What must be reported in a CSRD?

1. environmental factors
   i) Climate change mitigation, including in relation to Scope 1, Scope 2 and, where applicable, Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions;
   (ii) Adaptation to climate change;
   (iii) Water and marine resources;
   (iv) Resource use and the circular economy;
   (v) Pollution;
   (vi) Biodiversity and ecosystems;
2. social and human rights factors
3. certain governance factors

So the DIRECTIVE (EU) 2022/2464 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 14 December 2022 amending Regulation (EU) No 537/2014 and Directives 2004/109/EC, 2006/43/EC and 2013/34/EU as regards corporate sustainability reporting sounds scary at first, but it is not relevant to the gro of European companies for now.

Summary: Don’t let yourself be fooled

Perhaps this EU regulation will change again in the future. But for now, you don’t have to be fooled when you are told that you supposedly have to prepare and publish a CSRD. As long as you do not fall under the criteria mentioned in the EU Directive, you can take care of the really important things: Moving your business forward.

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Gerber Group

We at the Gerber Group have been trading in stainless steel worldwide for over 20 years. We are your experts when it comes to purchasing, import, logistics and services. Information is a vital part of this. Because only then can you and we make the right decisions. Do you have any questions? Contact us now.

Disclaimer: Many things here represent our opinion. Others are information from the Internet. We can therefore never claim to be correct or complete. And never base a business decision solely on the news you receive from us.