The Japanese government is launching an anti-dumping investigation into two types of steel products imported from Korea, Taiwan and China. The move comes as a flood of low-priced Chinese raw materials has triggered price competition across neighboring countries.
According to Kyodo News on Wednesday, Japan's Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry announced their plan to investigate hot-rolled steel sheets and steel strips — thin, long steel products rolled into ribbon shapes — produced in Korea, Taiwan and China for use in automobiles, home appliances and construction materials.
The probe follows a request filed in February by Japanese steelmakers including Nippon Steel and JFE Steel, which alleged that import prices for steel products from the three countries had been set as much as 50% below normal levels. Masayuki Hirose, chairman of the Japan Iron and Steel Federation and president of JFE Steel, said, "We will strengthen monitoring of unfair steel imports while consulting with the government on additional measures." Anti-dumping investigations by the Japanese government are in principle concluded within a year, with anti-dumping duties imposed depending on the findings.
China is the main source of the anti-dumping controversy in the steel industry. The world's largest steel producer has been pushing out low-priced steel raw materials to offset weak domestic demand. Korea and Japan import these raw materials for processing, and they have been forced to lower prices on their own processed products to remain competitive.
The Japanese government also conducted an anti-dumping investigation in August last year on certain coated steel sheets and stainless steel products from Korea and China. Korea, in turn, imposed tariffs in February 2025 following an anti-dumping investigation into hot-rolled steel from Japan and China. As a result, China signed a price agreement with Korea in February to settle the anti-dumping investigation Korea had launched.
The dumping controversy stemming from China is spreading beyond Asia to Europe and Latin America. Australia imposed tariffs of up to 82% on Chinese hot-rolled coil early last month, while Türkiye decided in December last year to levy a 3.95% anti-dumping duty on certain Chinese steel products. With Southeast Asia also expanding new steel production capacity, steelmakers in each country are focusing on finding new markets.
