LONDON, March 1 (Reuters) - Britain said on Wednesday it
would extend anti-dumping measures on Chinese reinforcement
steel after its Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) reversed an
earlier recommendation to drop the duties.
The TRA last year recommended that the measures, which have
been in place since 2016, should be dropped, given high demand
for reinforcement steel from Britain's construction sector and a
fall in supply from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. It said
maintaining the duties would keep prices high and damage the
economy.
But on Wednesday, the government body said new data showed
imports from other countries were filling the gap in supply of
the steel, known as HFP Rebar, caused by the drop from Russia
and Belarus since the start of the Ukraine war.
Business and trade minister Nigel Huddleston said Britain
wanted to prioritise "protecting UK steel from unfair
competition".
"This decision will help our strategically vital steel
industry, which supports tens of thousands of jobs, to stay
competitive," he said in a statement.
Last week British Steel, which is Chinese owned, said it
would cut 260 jobs as steelmaking in Britain was uncompetitive.
The extension of the anti-dumping duties, which allow a
country to take action against goods sold at less than their
normal value, runs until July 2026.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout, editing by Elizabeth Piper)
Messaging: alistair.smout.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
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