14 December 2022 – A lawsuit by a European association to overturn the EU anti-dumping measure against imports of cold-rolled stainless steel from China and Taiwan has been rejected by an EU court. And the trend reversal in metal prices is becoming increasingly clear.
Stainless steel anti-dumping lawsuit fails in EU court
The action brought by the European Association of Non-Integrated Metal Importers & distributors (Euranimi) to annul the anti-dumping measure against imports of stainless steel cold-rolled originating in China and Taiwan was dismissed by the General Court of the Court of Justice of the European Union on December 8, 2022, on the grounds of inadmissibility.
Obvious legal deficiencies in the extension
In July 2021, the Directorate-General Trade of the European Commission had extended the anti-dumping measure on stainless steel against China and Taiwan for five years, despite proven deficiencies and obvious legal errors.
“In our opinion, these errors violate applicable EU law, ” Thorsten Gerber, CEO of Gerber Group, said in a July 2021 statement. Furthermore, Mr. Gerber stated, “The proposed EC anti-dumping extension against Taiwan and China also inflicts further serious damage to the steel-consuming EU downstream industry, should it be implemented as it is currently before us.”
Association had filed complaint in December 2021
Euranimi and its lawyers had filed a lawsuit against the measure in December 2021, which has now been dismissed on the outrageous grounds of “inadmissibility.” This is not the first case in recent weeks and months where the European Court of Justice had banged its gavel on the bench and dismissed lawsuits filed by the European Association of Non-Integrated Metal Importers & distributors on the grounds of inadmissibility or lack of jurisdiction on Euranimi’s part.
“You can see from this decision very well what is really meant by the saying ‘one crow doesn’t peck out another’s eye’,” Thorsten Gerber said today about the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
He went on to say, “The ruling shows that once again the EC’s favored lobby associations, such as EUROFER and European Aluminium, have been ruled in favor here, and that there is no sympathetic ear for small and medium-sized businesses, which form the backbone of European industry and the economy.”
Other cases still with a chance of success?
It will now be exciting to see whether Euranimi’s open cases, e.g. against the EU Safeguard measure on certain steel products or the anti-dumping measure on imports of cold-rolled stainless steel from India and Indonesia, can still succeed. Unfortunately, the latest decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union do not indicate this.
Metal prices: Trend reversal becoming increasingly clear
The trend reversal in steel, aluminum, and other metal products is becoming increasingly clear. The demand for steel rebar, aluminum plate has picked up, and also the prices, for example, looking at China, HRC prices have risen to the highest level since July 2022. Similarly, Chinese rebars have also shown steady gains since early November 2022.
Ferro-chrome prices recover significantly
However, stainless steel also shows an upward trend that can no longer be ignored. Nickel has risen significantly in price, molybdenum is above the $50,000 mark, Chinese ferro-chrome prices have increased by almost 11% since the beginning of September, and further increases in scrap prices are expected for Europe in January 2023.
Global trade in 2022 at record level
To that end, global trade in 2022 will reach a record level of $32 trillion, according to UN data. “In terms of volumes, trade has continued to increase in 2022, indicating robust global demand,” the report states, among other things. Despite all the challenges, UNCTAD expects robust global economic growth of 2.5% in 2022 and currently expects further growth of 2.2% next year.
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