China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) strongly opposes the European Union's (EU) five-year anti-dumping duties on Chinese-made seamless steel pipes, claiming that it may submit an application to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to settle the dispute.

Since the EU's investigation July 9 last year, CISA organized such groups as CITIC Pacific, Hengyang Valin Steel Tube (Hengsteel), Tianjin Pipe, Panzhihua Iron and Steel Group Chengdu Seamless Steel Tube, WSP Holdings, Baosteel, and Angang Steel to represent 210 companies involved to counter the claims in the investigation with supporting data in the hearing on EU anti-dumping actions.

On September 24 this year, the EU's proposal of five-year anti-dumping duties on China-made seamless steel pipes with the circular section and diameter less than 406.4mm reached 39.2 percent. The final decision will be announced before October 8 by the Council of the European Union.

According to CISA, exports of Chinese-made seamless steel pipes decreased sharply since the EU's investigation. From January to August this year, exports to the EU decreased by 70.96 percent and the trade volume decreased by 64.45 percent compared to that of 2008.

CISA also claims this is the first anti-dumping case aimed at China's steel products, and so the EU's protectionism is taking a big hit on China's steel industry and seamless pipe enterprises.