October 6 (SeeNews) - The European Commission (EC) said on Friday it decided not to impose anti-dumping measures on steel producers from Serbia after conducting an investigation into alleged anti-competitive practices.
The EU's imports from Serbia were not included in the final regulation for imposing anti-dumping duties on imports of hot-rolled flat steel products from Brazil, Iran, Russia and Ukraine, because their volume was considered negligible, the Commission said in a statement.
In April 2016, Serbia's government agreed to sell the country's sole steel mill, Zelezara Smederevo, to China's Hesteel, after the Chinese investor submitted a binding offer to buy all 98 property units of Zelezara Smederevo for a total of 46 million euro ($53.9 million).
The Commission decided in June to impose definitive anti-subsidy measures on imports from China of certain hot-rolled flat steel products, as the Chinese government is supporting its steel industry through considerable subsidies, including preferential lending, tax rebates and other financial injections.
In July 2016, the Commission also initiated an anti-dumping investigation on imports of the same product originating in Brazil, Iran, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine.