Officials have been ordered to reconsider New Zealand Steel's bid to have anti-dumping duties on imposed on Chinese steel imports.
The High Court has quashed a July 2017 decision not to impose the countervailing duties sought on imports of galvanised steel coil and has ordered the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to reconsider NZ Steel's application.
Justice Jillian Mallon ruled the ministry was wrong in advising then-Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Jacqui Dean that banks providing loans, or firms supplying inputs such as hot rolled coil, to the Chinese producers did not qualify as being "government" entities. As a result, any benefits they provided did not constitute subsidies, MBIE believed.
Justice Mallon also ruled MBIE incorrectly discounted the findings of other overseas investigations at the time, which had found that the Chinese government had subsidised steel products. Accordingly, the minister's decision was inconsistent with the Trade (Anti-dumping and Countervailing Duties) Act 1988 and therefore unlawful.
NZ Steel, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Australia's BlueScope Steel, is the country's largest steelmaker. It considers that steel manufactured in China is subsidised by the government there and that imports of it cause material damage to the domestic industry. It has lodged three complaints with MBIE to date.
