China hits back in steel dumping dispute

A technician checks steel plates at a Han-Steel Co Ltd unit in Handan, Hebei province.[Hao Qunying/For China Daily]

China hit back at its critics over allegations that it is dumping steel products on world markets, threatening the European steel industry and causing job losses.

Tata Steel said last month it would sell most of its steel plants in the United Kingdom, putting thousands of jobs at risk. British trade unions and their counterparts in Belgium and France have claimed that the jobs are at risk due to Chinese overproduction, leading to steel products being dumped on world markets, undercutting Western European producers.

Chinese officials met representatives of more than 30 countries in Brussels this week to discuss the issue.

Shen Danyang, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, told reporters at a news conference in Beijing: "Steel is the food of industry, the food of economic development. At present, the major problem is that countries that need food have a poor appetite, so it looks like there's too much food."

Liu Xiaoming, China's ambassador to the UK, said: "It is regrettable that some people in Britain blame China for what is happening in the British steel industry, and accuse China of pricing local companies out of the steel market.

"Making China the 'scapegoat' only misleads the public and contributes nothing to the solution of the problem," he said in comments published by the Daily Telegraph.

Li Xinchuang, head of the China Metallurgical Planning and Research Institute, said it was unfair to blame Chinese steel exports for causing unemployment in Europe.

"It is a natural process that companies with higher costs and weak competitiveness will be replaced by ones that can produce better products with lower costs."

Shen said China "doesn't give any subsidies to encourage steel exports.

Zhang Ji, assistant minister of commerce, told the Brussels meeting that China is now making considerable sacrifices to cut its overcapacity.

Zhang Yu contributed to this story.