"Starting on July 23, 2019, [China] will introduce anti-dumping duties in the amount from 18.1 percent to 103.1 percent on steel imports from the European Union, Japan, Indonesia and South Korea, which include steel billets and hot-rolled stainless steel plates," the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry noted that Beijing has incurred significant damage to the domestic steel industry due to the aforementioned countries' dumping, which is the practice of flooding the market with a product sold at a cheaper price than is offered domestically, steel in China.
The ministry launched the anti-dumping probe against a number of steel products imported from the four countries in July 2018. The move was initiated at the request of the Shanxi Taigang Stainless Steel Co. Ltd., on behalf of a group of companies, which collectively accounted for over 50 percent of China's steel production from 2014-2017. The investigation lasted exactly one year.
China is the world's largest steel producer and exporter. According to the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics, Beijing turned out 87.53 million tonnes of crude steel in June, and a record-breaking 89.09 million tonnes in May.