In February 2026, the Korea Trade Commission (KTC) issued its final ruling on the anti-dumping case concerning hot-rolled steel sheets originating from China and Japan. Following multiple rounds of equal-footed negotiations, China and South Korea took the lead in formally reaching a consensus through a price undertaking agreement. South Korea agreed to implement a quota management system for Chinese hot-rolled steel sheets exported to South Korea, without imposing additional anti-dumping duties. Concurrently, the KTC's final ruling simultaneously incorporated commitments regarding duty imposition and price increases, bringing major steel enterprises from both China and Japan under the price undertaking supervision system. This marks the stable resolution of this closely watched Asia-Pacific steel trade friction case, a result explicitly welcomed by the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA).
The South Korean anti-dumping investigation into hot-rolled steel sheets from China and Japan was formally initiated on March 4, 2025. Hot-rolled steel sheets are essential materials for the construction industry and downstream manufacturing sectors, and serve as the core substrate for products like cold-rolled and galvanized sheets. They are widely used in automobiles, shipbuilding, heavy machinery, and other fields. Related bilateral trade is crucial for the stability of South Korea's industrial chain and supply chain. The proper resolution of this case also establishes an important prerequisite for handling subsequent investigations, such as the anti-dumping case concerning galvanized steel sheets from South Korea.
Amidst the current global rise of unilateralism and protectionism in trade, and the continued weakening of the multilateral trading system centered on WTO rules, China and South Korea remain important trade partners. Following President Lee Jae-myung's inauguration, high-level interactions between the two countries have been frequent, and cooperation across various fields continues to improve, laying a solid foundation for the amicable resolution of this dispute. In the steel sector, communication between the industries and core enterprises of China and South Korea has been smooth, with a history of resolving trade differences through mutually accommodating price undertakings. Several previous bilateral steel anti-dumping cases between the two countries were successfully concluded in this manner.
This case was coordinated and deployed by the Trade Remedy and Investigation Bureau of China's Ministry of Commerce. Authorized by its major domestic exporting member companies, CISA conducted several rounds of practical consultations with the KTC, balancing the core demands of both sides and ultimately facilitating the implementation of the price undertaking plan, completely eliminating market concerns about potential tariff increases. On February 23, the KTC formally accepted price undertakings from six Chinese companies, including Baosteel and Bensteel, as well as three Japanese companies: JFE Steel, Nippon Steel, and Tokyo Steel. Over the past three years, these nine companies collectively accounted for approximately 81% of South Korea's total hot-rolled steel sheet imports. With the major sources of imports now under the supervision system, hot-rolled steel sheet prices in the South Korean market are expected to be supported at a certain level.
The core outcomes of the price undertaking reached between China and South Korea are twofold: First, South Korea implements quota management for Chinese hot-rolled steel sheets exported to South Korea, refraining from imposing additional anti-dumping duties. Second, the price verification and trade supervision for products within the quota will be based primarily on the hot-rolled steel sheet market price data published by Shanghai Steelhome, establishing clear and transparent trade rules. Industry observers widely interpret the KTC's overall final ruling as a signal that anti-dumping measures are shifting from a tariff-centric approach to price management, aiming to mitigate impact on the market rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all tariff imposition. This approach sets a minimum export price, adjusted quarterly. If relevant companies violate the undertaking, anti-dumping duties will be imposed immediately. This effectively maintains tariff deterrence while promoting a gradual return of prices to normal levels.
Regarding the imposition of anti-dumping duties, the KTC proposed rates of up to approximately 33% on the subject goods. Rates for Chinese companies ranged from 28.16% to 33.10%, while major Japanese companies faced rates between 31.58% and 33.43%, with Japanese products overall receiving slightly higher rates than Chinese ones. Industry insiders point out that this ruling can no longer be simply explained by China's low-price dumping but demonstrates that Japanese products also exerted downward pressure on South Korean market prices. Notably, in the autumn of 2024, domestic hot-rolled steel sheet prices in Japan hovered around $700 per ton. However, since November, the average import price of Japanese-produced hot-rolled sheets entering the South Korean market was only $492, a price difference exceeding $250, equivalent to a 35% discount from domestic prices. This indicates Japan adopted a dual pricing strategy – protecting its domestic market while suppressing export prices to South Korea. This ruling imposes a degree of restraint on such practices.
Furthermore, a crucial arrangement in this anti-dumping final ruling is the exclusion of certain categories, such as tool steel, which cannot be produced domestically in South Korea, from the scope of duties. This signals that the government will not adopt blanket trade restrictions for special steels heavily reliant on imports.
China is the world's largest steel producer and exporter. In 2025, China's steel exports reached 119 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 7.5%, setting a new historical record. Hot-rolled steel sheets are a core export category for China's steel industry. China and South Korea are both major steel-producing and consuming nations in the Asia-Pacific region. The bilateral trade in hot-rolled steel sheets exhibits far greater complementarity than competition. This category has long accounted for over 65% of China's total steel exports to South Korea. South Korea remains a top destination for China's hot-rolled steel sheet exports, with shipments remaining high from 2023 to 2025. The trade between the two countries demonstrates a typical dislocation development pattern: China exports basic steel products like hot-rolled sheets to South Korea, providing cost-effective upstream raw materials for South Korea's manufacturing industry; South Korea exports technology-intensive sheets like high-end automotive steel sheets and high-grade electrical steel to China, filling gaps in China's supply of high-end plates.
The smooth resolution of this case serves as a successful model for resolving trade differences through equal consultation between China and South Korea, achieving mutual empowerment for both countries' steel and manufacturing sectors and delivering multi-win outcomes. For South Korea, it ensures the stable development of its domestic steel industry, while also providing cost-effective raw materials for key industries like automotive and shipbuilding, effectively reducing upstream costs and enhancing overall industrial competitiveness. For China, it creates a stable and predictable export environment for the steel industry, ensuring smooth export channels for hot-rolled steel sheets to South Korea, facilitating the orderly release of high-quality production capacity, and promoting the industry's acceleration towards high-end, green transformation. For the world, this practice of resolving trade friction through consultation between China and South Korea firmly upholds the multilateral trading system, provides an important example for the peaceful resolution of global steel trade disputes, establishes a stable rule framework for China-South Korea hot-rolled steel sheet trade, and injects positive momentum into the stable operation of global steel trade order and the stability of global manufacturing industry chains and supply chains.
Looking ahead, with the continuous improvement of bilateral trade rules, the scope for coordinated development between the Chinese and South Korean steel industries will become even broader. Shanghai Steelhome will continue to leverage its professional advantages, enhance the international credibility of its price data, contribute to the high-quality development and global layout of China's steel industry, and contribute its professional expertise to the stability of the global steel industry chain and supply chain.
In February 2026, the Korea Trade Commission (KTC) issued its final ruling on the anti-dumping case concerning hot-rolled steel sheets originating from China and Japan. Following multiple rounds of equal-footed negotiations, China and South Korea took the lead in formally reaching a consensus through a price undertaking agreement. South Korea agreed to implement a quota management system for Chinese hot-rolled steel sheets exported to South Korea, without imposing additional anti-dumping duties. Concurrently, the KTC's final ruling simultaneously incorporated commitments regarding duty imposition and price increases, bringing major steel enterprises from both China and Japan under the price undertaking supervision system. This marks the stable resolution of this closely watched Asia-Pacific steel trade friction case, a result explicitly welcomed by the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA).
The South Korean anti-dumping investigation into hot-rolled steel sheets from China and Japan was formally initiated on March 4, 2025. Hot-rolled steel sheets are essential materials for the construction industry and downstream manufacturing sectors, and serve as the core substrate for products like cold-rolled and galvanized sheets. They are widely used in automobiles, shipbuilding, heavy machinery, and other fields. Related bilateral trade is crucial for the stability of South Korea's industrial chain and supply chain. The proper resolution of this case also establishes an important prerequisite for handling subsequent investigations, such as the anti-dumping case concerning galvanized steel sheets from South Korea.
Amidst the current global rise of unilateralism and protectionism in trade, and the continued weakening of the multilateral trading system centered on WTO rules, China and South Korea remain important trade partners. Following President Lee Jae-myung's inauguration, high-level interactions between the two countries have been frequent, and cooperation across various fields continues to improve, laying a solid foundation for the amicable resolution of this dispute. In the steel sector, communication between the industries and core enterprises of China and South Korea has been smooth, with a history of resolving trade differences through mutually accommodating price undertakings. Several previous bilateral steel anti-dumping cases between the two countries were successfully concluded in this manner.
This case was coordinated and deployed by the Trade Remedy and Investigation Bureau of China's Ministry of Commerce. Authorized by its major domestic exporting member companies, CISA conducted several rounds of practical consultations with the KTC, balancing the core demands of both sides and ultimately facilitating the implementation of the price undertaking plan, completely eliminating market concerns about potential tariff increases. On February 23, the KTC formally accepted price undertakings from six Chinese companies, including Baosteel and Bensteel, as well as three Japanese companies: JFE Steel, Nippon Steel, and Tokyo Steel. Over the past three years, these nine companies collectively accounted for approximately 81% of South Korea's total hot-rolled steel sheet imports. With the major sources of imports now under the supervision system, hot-rolled steel sheet prices in the South Korean market are expected to be supported at a certain level.
The core outcomes of the price undertaking reached between China and South Korea are twofold: First, South Korea implements quota management for Chinese hot-rolled steel sheets exported to South Korea, refraining from imposing additional anti-dumping duties. Second, the price verification and trade supervision for products within the quota will be based primarily on the hot-rolled steel sheet market price data published by Shanghai Steelhome, establishing clear and transparent trade rules. Industry observers widely interpret the KTC's overall final ruling as a signal that anti-dumping measures are shifting from a tariff-centric approach to price management, aiming to mitigate impact on the market rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all tariff imposition. This approach sets a minimum export price, adjusted quarterly. If relevant companies violate the undertaking, anti-dumping duties will be imposed immediately. This effectively maintains tariff deterrence while promoting a gradual return of prices to normal levels.
Regarding the imposition of anti-dumping duties, the KTC proposed rates of up to approximately 33% on the subject goods. Rates for Chinese companies ranged from 28.16% to 33.10%, while major Japanese companies faced rates between 31.58% and 33.43%, with Japanese products overall receiving slightly higher rates than Chinese ones. Industry insiders point out that this ruling can no longer be simply explained by China's low-price dumping but demonstrates that Japanese products also exerted downward pressure on South Korean market prices. Notably, in the autumn of 2024, domestic hot-rolled steel sheet prices in Japan hovered around $700 per ton. However, since November, the average import price of Japanese-produced hot-rolled sheets entering the South Korean market was only $492, a price difference exceeding $250, equivalent to a 35% discount from domestic prices. This indicates Japan adopted a dual pricing strategy – protecting its domestic market while suppressing export prices to South Korea. This ruling imposes a degree of restraint on such practices.
Furthermore, a crucial arrangement in this anti-dumping final ruling is the exclusion of certain categories, such as tool steel, which cannot be produced domestically in South Korea, from the scope of duties. This signals that the government will not adopt blanket trade restrictions for special steels heavily reliant on imports.
China is the world's largest steel producer and exporter. In 2025, China's steel exports reached 119 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 7.5%, setting a new historical record. Hot-rolled steel sheets are a core export category for China's steel industry. China and South Korea are both major steel-producing and consuming nations in the Asia-Pacific region. The bilateral trade in hot-rolled steel sheets exhibits far greater complementarity than competition. This category has long accounted for over 65% of China's total steel exports to South Korea. South Korea remains a top destination for China's hot-rolled steel sheet exports, with shipments remaining high from 2023 to 2025. The trade between the two countries demonstrates a typical dislocation development pattern: China exports basic steel products like hot-rolled sheets to South Korea, providing cost-effective upstream raw materials for South Korea's manufacturing industry; South Korea exports technology-intensive sheets like high-end automotive steel sheets and high-grade electrical steel to China, filling gaps in China's supply of high-end plates.
The smooth resolution of this case serves as a successful model for resolving trade differences through equal consultation between China and South Korea, achieving mutual empowerment for both countries' steel and manufacturing sectors and delivering multi-win outcomes. For South Korea, it ensures the stable development of its domestic steel industry, while also providing cost-effective raw materials for key industries like automotive and shipbuilding, effectively reducing upstream costs and enhancing overall industrial competitiveness. For China, it creates a stable and predictable export environment for the steel industry, ensuring smooth export channels for hot-rolled steel sheets to South Korea, facilitating the orderly release of high-quality production capacity, and promoting the industry's acceleration towards high-end, green transformation. For the world, this practice of resolving trade friction through consultation between China and South Korea firmly upholds the multilateral trading system, provides an important example for the peaceful resolution of global steel trade disputes, establishes a stable rule framework for China-South Korea hot-rolled steel sheet trade, and injects positive momentum into the stable operation of global steel trade order and the stability of global manufacturing industry chains and supply chains.
Looking ahead, with the continuous improvement of bilateral trade rules, the scope for coordinated development between the Chinese and South Korean steel industries will become even broader. Shanghai Steelhome will continue to leverage its professional advantages, enhance the international credibility of its price data, contribute to the high-quality development and global layout of China's steel industry, and contribute its professional expertise to the stability of the global steel industry chain and supply chain.
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