Business Daily (Nairobi)
Jim Onyango
17 January 2008
The European Union's decision to launch investigations into alleged dumping of steel in the market has once again brought into focus the quality of steel products from China sold in the Kenyan market.
Analysts said low quality metal products are likely to get into the Kenyan market with consumers and local producers of steel products as main losers. This is mainly because imported steel tends to be cheaper than locally manufactured version making them attractive to local buyers.
The Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) has tried to deal with this problem through publication of new standards that, among other things, provide for the sale of steel bars for concrete reinforcement in weights and not in lengths.
The guidelines provide for standard weights that manufacturers of steel bars must comply with to ensure underweight and weak steel bars are not sold in the market. Weak steel reinforcement bars have been blamed for recent of collapse of houses under construction.
Next week's coming into force of the new regulations is expected to curb such incidents. The regulations gazetted in December last year demand that a Y8 steel bar of the standard 12 metres used in concrete reinforcement must weigh 4.7 kgs.
Previously buyers were unable to tell the weight and strength of the steel bars because they were sold on the basis of length.
While launching investigations into the dumping claims, the EU said it had evidence that hot-dipped metallic coated sheet and strip steel from China - used in construction - as well as stainless steel cold-rolled flat products from China, South Korea and Taiwan are being dumped at prices of 25 per cent to 30 per cent below the European average.
Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) chief executive officer in charge of metal sub-sector Moses Kiambuthi, however, said it would be long before Kenya feels the effect of steel dumping in Europe.
KAM raised the red flag over Chinese steel last year with a claim that the market was awash with substandard and counterfeit pipes and tubes because Kenya Bureau of Standards was not tests the imports for quality.
KAM claimed the influx on the new pre-shipment inspection regulations introduced in 2005 which requires that goods destined for Kenya be inspected at the port of origin to ensure that importers do not undervalue their consignments, thereby reducing the tax liability.
KAM said there was a loophole in the new rule as goods were not verified at the port of entry.
KAM said the pipes are not zinc coated and easily corrode thereby posing health hazards to water consumers and that have a potential to cause major construction disasters as they could collapse under high water pressure or velocity.
Last week, the European Union launched an investigation Friday into whether China is dumping steel in Europe.
European steel producers in October asked for a 40 percent surcharge on soaring imports of two types of steel, claiming China's output was "out of control."
The European Commission will investigate imports of hot-dipped metallic coated iron and steel flat-rolled products between December 1, 2006 and November 30.
Under global trade rules, the EU has the right to impose extra charges on imports if it gathers evidence any importer has illegally sold below cost.
Europe is now China's largest trading partner and its trade gap widened by 20 per cent in the first eight months of this year.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Business Daily. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
