By IAN KIRKWOOD
Nov. 19, 2015, 1:16 p.m.
Print Story
A Newcastle industrial company has taken anti-dumping action against foreign competitors for the first time
WARATAH’S Commonwealth Steel and a Western Australian maker Donhad Pty Ltd have convinced government anti-dumping authorities to investigate whether Chinese companies are dumping metal grinding balls on to the Australian market.
The Anti-Dumping Commission has announced it will investigate the allegations made by Comsteel – trading as MolyCop – and Donhad.
MolyCop said on Thursday that it and Donhad were alleging that certain exported Chinese manufactured balls were subsidised in China and priced below their normal value in Australia.
Both companies alleged this unfair trade adversely impacted the local supply market.
In a statement on Tuesday, anti-dumping commissioner Dale Seymour said the two companies were seeking “publication of a dumping duty notice and a countervailing duty notice” in relation to the grinding balls.
Mr Seymour said the companies alleged that the dumped Chinese products were “injuring the Australian industry”.
The impacts included lost sales, lower prices, lower profits, lower revenues and reduced employment.
Mr Seymour said he had 60 days to make a preliminary determination, or to say why the MolyCop/Donhad case had failed.
The Department of Industry says “dumping occurs when goods exported to Australia are priced lower than their ‘normal value’, which is usually the comparable price in the ordinary course of trade in the exporter’s domestic market”.
Comsteel is a subsidiary of Arrium (formerly OneSteel) and its grinding balls are forged at Waratah from steel made at its Waratah electric arc furnace steelmaker.
The grinding balls are used in the coal, iron ore and other resource industries to grind ores to various required sizes.
MolyCop said it was the first time it had taken anti-dumping action.
It was considering similar applications in other countries. The company described itself as the world’s largest maker of grinding balls, with plants in North America and South America as well as Waratah.
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