Malaysian steel exporters said Vietnam has unilaterally imposed anti dumping tariffs on locally produced cold-rolled stainless steel coils in a move that could jeapordise intra Asean trade and spark off tit for tat moves by other countries.

On Christmas Day, Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade had issued provisional anti dumping measures on Bahru Stainless Sdn Bhd, a steel exporter of cold rolled stainless steel coils based in Johor Baru.

According to the ministry’s website, Vietnamese authorities have imposed anti dumping duty rate of 14.38% on Bahru Stainless and other Malaysian producers of the product. This is considered one of the highest anti-dumping tariffs after Taiwan’s 30.73%, Indonesia (12.03%) and China (6.99%). In comparison, the current import duty rates ranges from 0% to 10%.

Malaysian Iron and Steel Industry Federation president Mr Datuk Soh Thian Lai told The Malaysian Reserve that “We did not expect this and it is unfair. There was no bilateral talks and Vietnam’s move will certainly impact our exports to the country, and impede intra-Asean trade.”

Bahru Stainless is the only Malaysian company that exports about 7,000 metric tonnes of cold-rolled stainless steel to Vietnam, estimated at about MYR 50 million annually. Malaysian companies export nearly 60,000 metric tonnes of the steel product worth nearly MYR 500 million yearly to international markets.

According to Vietnamese media, POSCO VST, a whollyowned subsidiary of South Korean steel giant POSCO, alleged that stainless steel products from China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Taiwan hurt its business in Vietnam.

Reportedly, POSCO VST suffered accumulated losses amounting to USD 66 million (MYR 216.98 million) since it began its operations in Vietnam three years ago, largely due to competition from these exporting countries.

Mr Soh also said it was unfair to penalise the Malaysian company due to pricing and moreover the quantity exported to Vietnam was not huge. He cautioned that “If Vietnam takes antidumping measures, then any of our members that suffered injuries due to anti-dumping will start to take similar action. Other Asean countries will also start doing the same.”