U.S. ruling on Chinese steel sheet, strip imports groundless: Chinese official

A Chinese commerce ministry official has rejected a recent U.S. ruling on Chinese steel products imports as "groundless."

In the ruling, the United States declared that stainless steel sheet and strip imports from China are subsidized and sold in the United States at less than fair value.

The United States failed to take into consideration the evidence and documents provided by Chinese manufacturers, and its ruling is against the facts, said Wang Hejun, head of the Ministry of Commerce (MOC)'s trade remedy and investigation bureau.

The United States International Trade Commission said Friday it had determined that U.S. industry is materially harmed by imports of stainless steel sheet and strip from China.

Difficulties facing the U.S. steel industry mainly stem from its outdated equipment and low efficiency and are thus not related to products China has sold in the country, said Wang.

During the investigation, demand for Chinese-made stainless steel sheet and strip grew, and imports from China have actually helped meet the rising demand, Wang added.

China and the United States are complementary in their steel trade, and China not only exports steel products to the United States but also imports U.S.-made steel products, Wang said.

China urges the United States to make an objective and fair ruling to avoid negatively affecting the normal economic and trade relations between the two countries, Wang added.

Chinese exporters suffered a total of 20 trade remedy probes initiated by the United States in 2016, an 81.1-percent increase year on year, the MOC said in February.

The 11 anti-dumping and nine anti-subsidy investigations involved 3.7 billion U.S. dollars, up 131 percent from 2015, the MOC said. Endi