Indian makers of steel-industry product may win EU duty relief

Indian exporters including HEG Ltd. may win tariff relief on shipments to Europe of graphite electrodes for electric furnaces, which are used by steelmakers.

The European Union will review duties ranging from 6.3% to 7.2% that are meant to counter alleged Indian subsidies to the exporters. The inquiry will also cover separate EU levies from 8.5% to 9.4% in response to alleged below-cost—or “dumped”—sales in Europe by the India-based companies.

The duty rates vary depending on the Indian exporter. HEG faces a 7% anti-subsidy duty and a zero anti-dumping levy.

The probe is based on a request by HEG, which claims that a global shortage of graphite electrodes for electric furnaces has caused a “massive shift upward” in prices worldwide and in the profitability of producers including those in the EU for which the duties exist, according to the European Commission, the bloc’s trade authority.

“The review will assess the need for the continuation, removal or amendment of the existing measures,” the Brussels-based commission said on Monday in the EU’s Official Journal. The investigation will last as long as 15 months.

EU anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on graphite electrodes from India date to 2004 and were last renewed for five years in 2017. The levies, which also target Indian exporters such as Graphite India Ltd., are meant to curb competition for EU-based producers including Germany-based SGL Carbon SE.