BlueScope welcomes the reforms announced today by the Federal Government to Australia's anti-dumping laws and administration.
Commenting on the announcement, BlueScopes Managing Director and CEO, Mr Paul O'Malley said that "BlueScope has suffered significant injury from dumped imported steel, which we estimate has cost the company around USD 100 million in the last financial year."
"Business expects a level playing field, where competition is tough but fair. The changes announced today by the Government send a strong deterrent message to foreign manufacturers and importers not to dump goods in Australia. If they persist in dumping, then penalties will potentially be higher and longer-lasting, and anti-circumvention measures tougher."
"In particular, we welcome the steps to limit the application of the lesser duty rule and the reforms to make it easier for Customs to apply retrospective duties.
"The ability to take action against dumped imports is not an exception to the liberal rules of world trade, but rather a nght that all countries have under World Trade Organisation rules and Australia's anti dumping system is WTO-compliant. Dumping undermines the viability of Australian manufacturers, discourages investment in domestic manufacturing and costs jobs."
"Under the changes announced today, we expect Customs should also have more resources and better expertise to investigate dumping. We will continue to be vigilant in monitoring imports and will not hesitate to seek duties if we believe dumping is causing material injury to our Australian manufacturing operations."
Speaking about current anti-dumping actions BlueScope has launched, Mr O'Malley said that "Customs' findings to date validate all our claims. The preliminary findings in relation to imports of hot rolled coil (HRC) from South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Malaysia confirmed dumping and material injury."