TURKEY is the country that has been the subject of the largest number of anti dumping investigations to date. First, there was the one on hot-rolled steel sheet initiated in 2013, following a complaint from the Maghreb Steel company. Then there was the complaint filed on refrigerators initiated in 2016 upon request of Manufacture Nationale pour la Réfrigération et l'Électronique.
Then finally there was the investigation on galvanized wire. Indeed, the Ministry of Industry and Trade launched investigations on March 09, 2022, on this metallurgical product used in agriculture and industry (wire mesh, barbed wire, automotive ...).
The investigation was opened following a complaint lodged by four Moroccan companies: Somatref, Sicotrem, Sodefer, and Galvafil. Another operator, Siderurgie Zayane, «supports» the accusations of «dumping and significant damage to the domestic industry» made against the Turkish exporters and producers. «The four complainants represent 100% of the local production of galvanized wire,» says the Moroccan Directorate General for Trade. This detail is important because the companies can claim to «represent the domestic industry». They can therefore request the opening of an investigation because the complainants «constitute the major proportion of the total national production» of galvanized wire, as required by Law No. 15-09 on trade defense. In this process, the admissibility of a complaint is as important as the green light of the Commission for the Surveillance of Imports who has indeed given its approval for the initiation of the investigation on February 03, 2022.
The Directorate for Trade Defense and Regulation has previously prepared the ground for the investigation on the basis of «objective and sufficient evidence». The dumping margin was calculated on the basis of import invoices. This margin is «significant» and «largely exceeds the minimum of 2% authorized» by the international trade law, and more precisely, by the GATT agreements which inspired the Moroccan law on trade defense.
But nothing is settled for the moment. The investigation has just started. The Ministry of Industry has set deadlines for the parties to come forward. The investigations of the Ministry will consist of «collecting and verifying» data from Turkish exporting producers of galvanized wire, importers, Moroccan producers, and other interested parties.
All of these procedures aim at determining if there is really dumping. Dumping occurs when the price of a product sold for export is lower than the price in the exporting country. «Import prices have been adjusted for international and for domestic transportation costs at the ex-works level,» the ministerial note said. The data presented by the complainants «was obtained from a Turkish company’s commercial information». There is another issue in these international trade law cases, i.e. to demonstrate the existence of significant damage and the causal link, namely to prove, with figures, that imports «have increased remarkably in absolute terms and in relation to national production and consumption», which is tantamount to also establishing that the exporting producers have gained «substantial market share». «Imports of galvanized wire from Turkey have had a negative impact on sales price levels in Morocco, the quantities sold, the market share and profits...», according to information from the complainant companies. The investigators relied on this fact to start investigations.
Faiçal FAQUIHI
