On 28 March 2019, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (“MITI”), on the petition of Mycron Steel CRC Sdn Bhd, initiated an anti-circumvention investigation with regard to the import of cold rolled steel coils of iron or non-alloy steel with a width of more than 1300mm (“CRC”) originating or exported from China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam. The Petitioner alleged that parties were circumventing the anti-dumping duties imposed on cold rolled steel coils of iron or non-alloy steel of a thickness between 0.20mm to 2.60mm and between 700mm to 1300mm originating or exported from China, Korea and Vietnam under AD Petition No. 03/15 by importing wider width CRC and slitting the same to the smaller sizes.
 
In the Petition however, the Petitioner conceded that wider width CRC used in niche industries such as the automotive industry and for other selected electric and electronic industries ought to be excluded from any anti-dumping duties.
 
On 26 August 2019, MITI issued a Notice of Affirmative Preliminary Determination (“Notice”) and found that the domestic industry in Malaysia had suffered material injury due to the import of CRC from the four countries stated in the Petition and imposed provisional anti-dumping duties ranging from 3.84% to 29.39% on CRC imported from those countries. Taking the cue from the Petitioner, MITI excluded CRC imported for automotive and finwall for transformer end usages from the imposition of the aforesaid provisional duties.
 
MITI will now further investigate this matter to ascertain if the imposition of anti-dumping duties are warranted. A final determination will be issued within 120 days from the Notice.
 
Ms. Lim Koon Huan and Mr. Manshan Singh from our Trade and Customs Practice Group acted for a number of foreign exporters seeking an exclusion pursuant to the Petitioner’s concession. Pending the final determination by MITI, importers of our clients’ CRC for automotive end usages have been excluded from anti-dumping duties.