Since its entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in November last year, China has been filing anti-dumping lawsuits more frequently, alarming Korean exporters.
According to the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE), the Chinese government has imposed import barriers or anti-dumping inspections on a total of 13 Korean products, of which five were designated in the past four months, after China's accession into the WTO.
The ministry said that a Beijing-based PVC firm lodged an anti-dumping suit with China's Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Ministry against PVC exporters from Korea, Japan, the United States, Russia and Taiwan at around the end of March.
If the Chinese ministry upholds the lawsuit, Korean petrochemical firms, including LG Chemical and Hanwha Petrochemical, will likely bear the brunt of the decision. Korean petrochemical manufacturers realized a total of US$141 million in exports of petrochemical products to China last year.
The Chinese ministry announced on March 23 that it kicked off anti-dumping inspections of steel exporting firms from Korea, Taiwan, and Ukraine at the request of China's domestic steel makers. Korea exporters of steel products to China under investigation included POSCO, Dongbu Steel, and Hyundai Hysco. These Korean firms have been charged with the highest dumping margin of 32.05 percent.
Early in February, several Chinese paper manufacturers filed a lawsuit with the Chinese government against Korea exporters of newsprint, including Hansol, Kyesung, Shinmurim, and Shinho, alleging that they incurred losses as the result of Korean paper producers' dumping of newsprint items in the Chinese market.
(Kim Ki-hun, khkim@chosun.com)
