Brazil reduces definitive anti-dumping duties on non-oriented electrical steel (aço GNO) from China, South Korea, Chinese Taipei and Germany via public-interest modification — Resolução Gecex 857/2026

Mechanism

Resolução Gecex 857/2026, signed 20 February 2026 and published in the Diário Oficial da União on 23 February 2026, modifies the definitive five-year anti-dumping duties on imports of flat-rolled silicon electrical steel, non-oriented (aço GNO — grão não orientado), under NCM headings 7225.19.00 and 7226.19.00.

Terminology note: The Brazilian trade name "aço GNO" stands for grão não orientado — non-oriented electrical steel (NOES), used in electric motors, generators and compressors. This is distinct from grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES / aço GO), which is used primarily in power transformers. Gecex 857/2026 concerns NOES only.

Legal chain:

1. Original definitive AD duties on GNO steel from CN/KR/TW/DE → extended for 5 years by Resolução Gecex 758 of 10 July 2025 2. Public-interest evaluation opened ex officio → Circular Secex 67 of 26 August 2025 3. DECOM concludes evaluation, finding full recommended rates cause net welfare loss → Gecex 857 (20 Feb 2026) reduces rates below investigation recommendation for the remainder of the 5-year window

Duty rates

Rates are specific (US$ per metric tonne), not ad valorem. They are fixed below the ceiling the dumping investigation recommended, pursuant to the public-interest findings.

Public-interest evaluation findings (DECOM)

DECOM's avaliação de interesse público under Decreto 8.058/2013 weighed domestic-producer injury against downstream-user harm and found:

• Supply constraint: Aperam South America, the sole Brazilian NOES producer, cannot satisfy total domestic demand — a portion of Brazilian GNO steel requirements will continue to be imported regardless of duty level
• Price transmission: Full recommended duties would raise GNO steel prices 3.13–4.95%, translating into higher input costs for electric motor, generator and compressor manufacturers
• Net welfare loss: Simulated aggregate welfare impact at full-recommendation duty level: approximately −US$2.19 million (consumer + downstream losses outweigh producer-surplus gain)
• International benchmark: The proposed full duty rates would exceed those applied by approximately 89% of WTO-reporting countries with AD duties on GNO steel
• Conclusion: Gecex 857 fixes duties at a level that maintains partial protection for Aperam while capping import-cost pass-through to downstream users

Affected parties

Domestic producer (protected):

• Aperam South America — sole Brazilian NOES/GNO steel producer; retains partial AD protection under the reduced-rate regime

Downstream users (benefiting from rate reduction):

• WEG S.A. — Jaraguá do Sul, SC; Brazil's largest electric motor and generator manufacturer; explicitly identified in DECOM findings as a major GNO steel consumer
• EMBRACO / Nidec Global Appliance — hermetic compressor manufacturer; explicitly identified in DECOM findings
• Other Brazilian manufacturers of electric motors, wind generators, hydro turbines, hermetic compressors (refrigerators, freezers, A/C), UPS systems, electricity meters

Exporting companies with company-specific rates:

• China: Baoshan Iron & Steel (Baosteel), Zhangjiagang Yangzijiang, Maanshan Iron & Steel, Jiangsu Huaxi
• South Korea: Posco and subsidiaries, Kiswire, Samsung C&T
• Chinese Taipei: China Steel Corporation
• Germany: C.D. Wälzholz KG, ThyssenKrupp

Downstream implications

• The partial-liberalization design (cut below investigation recommendation but not to zero) is consistent with Brazil's established pattern of using public-interest evaluations as a demand-management valve rather than outright suspension
• WEG is the principal macro-relevant beneficiary: as a leading global motor/generator exporter, lower GNO input costs improve its competitiveness in EV traction motor and industrial motor supply chains
• Aperam retains protection; the risk is a resurgence of import injury complaint once the 5-year window nears expiry (~2030), particularly if Chinese NOES export capacity continues to expand
• Germany's unchanged rate (US$166.32/ton) reflects the DECOM finding that European supply is less price-competitive and thus less material to Brazilian supply balance

Open questions

• Whether Aperam will petition for a mid-period review if actual import volumes increase sharply under the lower rates
• Trajectory of WEG's NOES sourcing: domestic Aperam vs. Asian imports at the new ceiling rates
• Whether the avaliação de interesse público framework will be extended to the GOES (grain-oriented) market, where Brazil has separate AD duties and a comparable downstream-user community (power transformer manufacturers)