News story

TRA to review imports of steel ropes and cables from China

The TRA has launched a transition review into anti-dumping measures on steel ropes and cables from China, including those products consigned from Morocco and Korea.

The Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) has today, 30 March 2023, launched a transition review into anti-dumping measures on steel ropes and cables from China, including those products consigned from Morocco and Korea.

The products in scope of this review are steel ropes and cables including locked coil ropes. The review excludes ropes and cables of stainless steel. Steel ropes and cables are used primarily in construction, the oil and gas industry, as well as in the manufacture of cranes, bridges and household appliances. 

Total imports of steel wire ropes and cables to the UK have increased between 2019 and 2022, with the average unit price of imports from China decreasing over 2022.

The TRA’s review

The TRA will review the UK production of these products and the levels of imports from China, Morocco and Korea. The period of investigation (POI) for this transition review is 1 January 2022 until 31 December 2022 and the injury period (IP) is 1 January 2019 until 31 December 2022.

Businesses that may be affected by this review (such as importers or exporters of the products or UK producers of similar products) can contribute by registering their interest in the case on the TRA’s online case platform by 17 April 2023. All new developments in the case will be posted on the TRA’s public file, where you can find out more about the product types in scope of the TRA’s review. 

View further information on the TRA’s current investigations, including transition reviews like this one.

Background information

  • The Trade Remedies Authority is the UK body that investigates whether new trade remedy measures are needed to counter unfair import practices and unforeseen surges of imports.
  • The goods being reviewed are steel ropes and cables including locked coil ropes, excluding ropes and cables of stainless steel, with a maximum cross-sectional dimension exceeding 3mm. Find out more about the products in scope on the TRA’s public file.
  • Over 40 EU trade remedy measures of interest to UK producers were carried across into UK law when the UK left the EU and the TRA is currently reviewing each one to check if it is suitable for UK needs. View further information on our current transition reviews.
  • Anti-dumping measures allow a country to take action against goods which are being sold at less than their normal value – this is defined as the price for ‘like goods’ sold in the exporter’s home market.
  • These anti-dumping measures are one of the three types of trade remedies – along with measures against countervailable subsidies, and safeguard measures, which address sudden, unforeseen floods of imports – that are allowed under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.
  • Period of Investigation – when we are investigating dumping and subsidy cases, we will use a period of investigation of around a year. We will aim for the end point to be as close as possible to the date of initiation. However, we will decide this on a case-by-case basis.
  • Period of injury – the injury period will usually cover the period of investigation and normally the 36 months immediately before this (i.e., 48 months in total). TRA investigators look at evidence of injury over a longer period than the general period of investigation so that they can assess trends and other factors in more detail than if they looked at a single year.
Published 30 March 2023