The European Commission will begin an investigation in respect of ferrochromium in Russia
17 July 2017
The European Commission start an antidumping investigation against the ferrochromium from Russia. This was announced by its representatives. Also, the investigation will affect the Turkish and Chinese low-carbon ferrochromium. The investigation initiated a lawsuit in the EC. It was filed in may of this year, Euroalliages, the European Association of manufacturers of ferroalloys. It protects the interests of Elektrowerk Weisweiler plant in Germany, which is owned by Afarak. It is the only EU manufacturer of low carbon ferrochromium.
Anti-dumping duties in respect of ferrochromium with the percentage of carbon is less than 0.5% in effect from 1993 to 2004. Its size was 310 EURO per tonne. Imposed duty on Russian, Ukrainian and Chinese products. Use of ferrochromium in the production of stainless steel. Basically in the global steel sector used high-carbon material. Excess carbon is removed in the smelting with refining. Use the vacuum-oxygen or argon-oxygen method. At the same time, these countries use a different technology, it uses low-carbon ferrochromium.
In Russia main producers is Klyuchevskaya, Serov Ferroalloy plants. Low carbon ferrochromium is capable of Chelyabinsk metallurgical plant. However, in April 2017, the production was suspended amid a sharp growth of prices for chrome ore.
As for China, which also fell under the investigation, the Department of Commerce appealed to the EC. The essence of the appeal — the requirement for investigations under WTO rules. In June the EU adopted a new method of calculating margins. It is not the best way affect the countries that are not recognized in the EU market.
