KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 23): The government will undertake further investigation into the import of steel concrete reinforcing bar (rebar) from Singapore and Turkey.

In a statement today, the Ministry of International Trade and Investment (MITI) said Putrajaya decided this upon completion of iminary determination of anti-dumping investigation into these imports, and found there is sufficient evidence to continue with the probe.

“The government has also decided to impose a provisional measure, which shall be in the form of provisional anti-dumping duties guaranteed by a security, equivalent to the amount of the dumping margins determined in the preliminary determination.

“Provisional anti-dumping duties ranging from nil to 20.09% will be applied on imports of subject merchandise from the alleged countries and shall be effective not more than 120 days from Sept 23,” MITI said. 

The ministry added that a final decision on the matter will be made on Jan 21.

The Malaysia Steel Association had petitioned to MITI on April 26 to investigate the issue of steel dumping in Malaysia, claiming that the imports of rebar from Singapore and Turkey had entered the Malaysian market at a lower price, thus undercutting the Malaysian market’s average selling price.

“The petitioner claimed that this has caused material injury to the domestic industry in Malaysia,” MITI said.