U-turn on steel tariffs policy
1 February 2003
Complaints from domestic manufacturers have forced the government into giving exemptions to the steel import barriers that were erected last November. An official from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation told the Financial Times that the safeguards would be adjusted. "One reason is that importers and related enterprises have raised many complaints," the official explained.
The barriers were erected to protect stateowned steel corporations, but the move caused an outpouring of complaints from end-users of the raw material, especially privately owned manufacturers of consumer electronics products. They include the likes of Galanz, the world's top manufacturer of microwave ovens, Midea, a producer of air conditioners, and Little Swan, the consumer electronics company.
