Indonesia has initiated an investigation on renewing safeguard measures on non-alloy cold rolled steel imports, according to the Vietnam Steel Association. Indonesia launched safeguard measures levying heavy duties in 2014 July, which were set to last for three years, Kallanish notes.

Tariffs in the first year were IDR 4,998,784/tonne ($374/t), in the second year IDR 4,314,161/t and the third year IDR 3,629,538/t. The measures are due to expire on 21 July 2017. The products affected are of width over 600mm, thickness below 0.7mm, and contain less than 0.6% carbon.

On 18 January Indonesia’s Safeguard Committee (KPPI) announced the initiation of the investigation to extend safeguard measures on HS code 7210.61.11.00. The investigation period is over January 2013-June 2016, following petitions from PT NS Bluescope Indonesia and PT Sunrise Steel, just as three years ago. KPPI said interested parties need to register within 15 days from the date of  the announcement.

NS BlueScope Indonesia belongs to NS BlueScope Coated Products, a  joint venture between Australia’s BlueScope Steel and Japan’s Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp (NSSMC).

A World Trade Organization document showed Vietnam, Taiwan and South Korea were the key supplier nations while the duties first introduced. Most notably Vietnamese exporters dominated the share of imports in the Indonesian market with 60.04 percent in 2012. Indonesia imported 47,410 tonnes of related product in Q1 2016, according to Global Trade Tracker, China meanwhile has exported 110,560 tonnes of such product to Indonesia in 2016, an increase of 13.08% year-on-year.