Malaysia's announcement that it will introduce antidumping import duties for cold-rolled stainless steel products from China, Taiwan, South Korea and Thailand is likely to have only a marginal impact on the huge Chinese market, according to analysts.
"The Royal Malaysian Customs Department will enforce the collection of antidumping duties and this measure will be effective for five years, from February 8, 2018 to February 7, 2023," a statement from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry said.
The investigation was initiated on a petition filed by Malaysian stainless steel mill, Bahru Stainless Sdn. Bhd., on behalf of domestic producers.
Danqing Lou, analyst from Nanhua Futures Research, said: "The effects of the antidumping policy on the overall stainless steel market are marginal."
"The policy will cause a slight drop in exports of Chinese materials. But domestic sales will not be affected," she added.
The analyst noted that the Chinese mills which were more dependent on exports could possibly suffer from a loss in the short term, but bigger mills would be able to absorb the tax in the long run.
A second Chinese analyst said the antidumping duties might lift export prices from the four countries, boosting domestic prices to the next level.
However, he pointed out stainless steel production and consumption in Malaysia is not that significant compared to China, the world's largest stainless steel producer and consumer since 2001.
Total production of Bharu's cold-rolled stainless steel was 1.301 million metric tons from January to September, according to the 9M 2017 results report of Acerinox, which owns 67% of Bahru Stainless.
The latest figures from the Stainless Steel Council of China Special Steel Enterprise Association show that the crude stainless steel production in 2017 totaled 25.773 million metric tons, up 4.7% on the year.
"China puts more focus on domestic stainless consumption. Southeast Asia is not a major destination for stainless exports. Though regional demand might see a potential increase in future, we still need more observations in the global market," Lou said.
Cold-rolled stainless steel from Shanxi Taigang Stainless Steel (TISCO) will be taxed at 2.68%, while products from other Chinese stainless steel mills will be taxed higher at 23.95%.
No duties will be imposed for Hyundai BNG Steel and Hyundai Steel Co. but fellow South Korean company Posco faces a 4.44% import tariff and other companies from the country will pay 7.27%.
Taiwanese companies Tang Eng Iron Works and Walsin Lihwa Corp. are subject to 7.78% and 2.79% taxes, respectively. China Far Industrial Factory and Yieh United Steel Corp. are excluded from the policy.
Materials from other Taiwanese stainless steel mills are charged at 14.02% taxes.
Duties for Thai products will be 111.61%, except for POSCO-Thainox, which is to be taxed at 22.86%.
