The Chilean government’s decision to impose anti-dumping tariffs on two steel products from China boosted shares of the local steelmaker CAP on Monday, which decided to suspend an announced closure of a plant.
Shares of the local steel company rose up to 3.1 per cent on Monday morning on the Santiago Stock Exchange.
Chile’s finance ministry published a decree over the weekend that imposed a “provisional antidumping duty” of 24.9 per cent on steel bars to manufacture conventional grinding balls with a diameter of less than four inches and 33.5 per cent on steel balls of the same measurements coming from China.
In March, CAP agreed to suspend operations at the Compañía Siderúrgica Huachipato (CSH) in southern Chile for about three months, after it considered a move against Chinese imports by the local regulator as insufficient.
Then on Sunday, a letter to the securities regulator from the CAP board said the company “made the decision to reverse the indefinite suspension process”.
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The measure was taken after a commission received appeals from the company and others interested in modifying recommendations for provisional measures on imports of steel bars and balls from China.
The statement by CAP said the decision “will imply the continuity of CSH’s steel operations while surcharges remain in force that allow CSH to operate in a competitive environment”, adding that will allow for continued employment for workers, suppliers and contractors.
The company said it was analysing the “irreversible costs” of the suspension process.
Tariffs against Chinese products may not exceed six months, counting from the end of March, according to the decrees.
