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The KTC is the statutory trade-remedy authority under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE). It operates under the Act on the Investigation of Unfair International Trade Practices and Remedy Against Injury to Industry (불공정무역행위 조사 및 산업피해구제에 관한 법률) and the Customs Act. Upon a final affirmative determination, the KTC forwards its recommendation to MOEF, which issues the customs notification implementing the definitive duty within the standard 30-day window.
The investigation was filed December 2023 by Hyundai Steel on behalf of Korean HRC producers, alleging material injury from dumped Chinese and Japanese imports as the won depreciated and Chinese excess-capacity exports surged post-2023. Provisional (temporary) duties of 28.16–33.57% were imposed from 1 September 2025 for a four-month provisional period. At the 461st KTC meeting on 23 February 2026, the commission confirmed:
1. Material dumping margins for surveyed Chinese exporters — Baoshan Iron & Steel (Baosteel), Anyang Iron & Steel, Shougang, HBIS, Maanshan, Wuhan Iron & Steel — and Japanese exporters — Nippon Steel, JFE Steel, Kobe Steel, Tokyo Steel. 2. Material injury causation to the domestic industry: Hyundai Steel, POSCO, Dongkuk Steel, and Hyundai BNG Steel demonstrated capacity-utilisation decline, market-share erosion, price suppression, and operating-margin compression attributable to the dumped imports. 3. No public-interest bar to imposition of measures.
The dual-target scope (China AND Japan) is structurally novel in the 2024–2026 global HRC anti-dumping wave. Most contemporaneous instruments targeted China-only (Brazil GECEX 765, EU HRC AD on Egypt/Japan/Vietnam at lower rates). Korea's inclusion of Japan reflects the historic Japan–Korea steel-rivalry dynamic and the 2024–2025 yen depreciation widening Japanese export competitiveness against Korean domestic producers.
Price undertakings were accepted as an alternative to the definitive duty for three Japanese companies (JFE Steel, Nippon Steel, and one additional Japanese exporter) and six Chinese companies (including Baosteel). Companies that did not offer or whose undertakings were not accepted face the full rates.
| Origin | Rate range | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| China | 28.16–33.10% | Company-specific margin + residual |
| Japan | 31.58–33.57% | Company-specific margin + residual |
The representative tariff_rate_pct is set to 33.10% (Chinese ceiling / effective residual rate for non-undertaking exporters).
Korea source significant HRC volumes from Chinese and Japanese mills; the price-undertaking structure allows them to continue sourcing at minimum-price floors rather than facing the full duty, partially insulating auto OEM input costs.
Hanwha Ocean are the principal HRC-buying sectors after automotive; the measures add upward pressure on hull-plate input costs, partially offset by the price-undertaking scheme.
exporter itself, POSCO benefits from reduced Chinese/Japanese import competition in the domestic Korean market.
complement to: EU steel safeguard successor regulation (2026-04-13), India flat-products safeguard (2025-12-30), Brazil GECEX 765 (2025-08-28), and Türkiye HRC AD on China/IN/JP/RU (2024-10-11). The Korean determination at 28–33% represents the highest median rate in this 2024–2026 HRC AD peer set.
yet publicly accessible at time of filing; confirm via https://www.customs.go.kr once the implementing regulation is published).
customs administrator) will monitor minimum import-price adherence; violation triggers automatic conversion to the full duty rate.
Hyundai Steel is expected to petition for continuation given the structural Chinese oversupply trajectory.