Posted on 20 Jun 2018
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Monday said it has lodged a request via the World Trade Organization to hold talks with South Korea over its antidumping duties on stainless steel bar imports from Japan.
The duties was initially imposed in July 2004 and most recently extended by three years in June 2016, when the duty was set at 15.39% on stainless bars imported from Japan from June 2, 2017.
Japan claims it has repeatedly asked South Korea to ensure its procedures meet WTO rules.
A METI official claimed Japan’s stainless bar exports have not caused disruption to the South Korean market and the antidumping duties should be removed.
“We have requested [via] the WTO to hold bilateral discussions to find a solution to this issue,” he said.
A trader in Tokyo said it was unusual for antidumping duties to remain in place for 14 years because market conditions typically change over that time.
“Japan now exports more high-value added stainless bars, which won’t compete with the products in the country [South Korea],” he said.
METI said in the statement that the total export value of stainless bars shipped from Japan to South Korea in 2016 was around Yen 2.8 billion ($25.44 million).
