The European Commission has launched an investigation to determine whether imports of hot-rolled steel products originating in Brazil, Iran, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine have been dumped on the EU market.

These products are used as an input into other steel products as well as directly in a variety of industrial applications, including for construction, shipbuilding, gas containers, pressure vessels, and energy pipelines.

This investigation follows the ongoing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations into similar products from China, launched in February and May respectively. In total, the EU has 37 anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures in place.

In both cases involving China, the commission decided to act early, according to a statement from the EU body, “motivated by the threat that continuation of imports under current conditions might cause economic damage to the EU industry.”

The latest complaint was filed on May 23, 2016 by the European Steel Association on behalf of producers representing more than 25 percent of total EU production of certain hot-rolled flat products of iron, non-alloy, or other alloy steel.

The steel sector in the EU has an annual revenues of $187 billion and is responsible for 1.3 percent of EU GDP. The industry provides 328 000 direct jobs and an even greater number of indirect and dependent jobs. The European Union is the second steel producer in the world after China, producing on average 170 million tons of crude steel per year.

The EC’s decision to investigate means that it has found sufficient evidence to justify the initiation of the proceeding. The investigation will determine whether the product under investigation originating in the countries concerned is being dumped and whether the dumped imports have caused injury to the EU industry. If the conclusions are affirmative, the investigation will examine whether the imposition of measures would not be against EU interests.

The commission has up to nine months to establish whether to impose provisional countervailing duties and a further six months to decide whether to impose definitive measures.