Thailand has imposed dumping tariffs on Taiwanese stainless steel pipe and tube exporters after the Southeast Asian nation issued a final ruling saying Taiwan and three other nations have sold steel products at unfairly low prices in the Thai market, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Friday.
The ministry said that the dumping tariffs faced by Taiwan’s stainless steel pipe and tube exporters ranged between 2.38 percent and 29.04 percent, and that the financial penalty that came into effect in the middle of last month would be in place for five years.
Among the affected Taiwanese exporters, YC Inox Co (允強實業) would pay a 2.38 percent tariff, while Froch Enterprise Co (彰源企業) would pay a 12.29 percent tariff, the ministry said, adding that it regrets the decision made by the Thai government.
Stainless steel pipes and tubes are used to make a wide range of devices, including water and drainage pipes, the ministry said.
The final ruling was announced after Thai authorities investigated imports from Taiwan between July 1, 2014, and June 30 last year, it said.
Thailand also imposed dumping tariffs of between 11.96 percent and 51.53 percent on exporters from South Korea, the ministry said.
The tariff faced by Chinese and Vietnamese firms is between 145.31 percent and 310.74 percent, it added.
The ministry said that Taiwanese stainless steel pipe and tube exporters can sell their products to Thailand for processing by Thai firms that sell reprocessed steel outside the Thai market.
Steel and pipe imports done this way are exempt from the tariff.
Last year, Taiwan sold US$13.94 million worth of stainless steel pipes and tubes to Thailand, down 10.55 percent from a year earlier, representing 17.01 percent of total steel imports in the Thai market, the ministry said.
China was the largest stainless steel pipe and tube supplier to Thailand last year, selling US$81.95 million worth of goods.
