[Pb Ingot] Lead Shipments from Shanghai Recover after Storm

The EU Commission's 44th Trade Defence Report, published September 17, 2026, highlighted 32 new investigations and 232 active measures, but made no mention of two WTO panel defeats in 2025. One is directly relevant to stainless steel: in October 2025, a WTO dispute settlement panel rejected the core legal construction behind the EU's countervailing duties on Indonesian cold-rolled stainless steel, specifically the attribution of Chinese financing as an Indonesian subsidy. The Commission appealed the ruling to the Appellate Body — which has been dysfunctional since 2020 — a manoeuvre Brussels routinely criticizes other trading partners for using to obstruct the rules-based order. The stainless steel case appears in the report only because Egypt raised it in the WTO Committee; the outcome itself goes unmentioned.

The European Commission issued a Statement of Objections regarding MMG's proposed acquisition of Anglo American's Brazilian nickel operations, a move welcomed by EUROFER. Director General Axel Eggert stated that any transaction affecting strategic raw materials should strengthen competition, security of supply, and Europe's industrial autonomy rather than create new dependencies. EUROFER warned that further concentration in strategic raw material supply could increase suppliers' pricing power and reduce purchasing options for European stainless steel producers, who rely on competitively priced, low-carbon ferronickel to meet decarbonization requirements. The association also pointed to Indonesia's nickel ore export ban as a precedent for supply chain disruption, arguing that further consolidation of Brazilian nickel supply warrants careful scrutiny. EUROFER called for robust, lasting structural, governance, or ownership-based safeguards — rather than solely contractual commitments — to preserve direct and competitive access for European stainless steel producers to the Anglo American Brazilian assets.

La investigación antidumping de Taiwán (PoC) sobre el acero inoxidable laminado en frío vietnamita ha puesto de manifiesto una importante división en el sector. Los solicitantes Yusco y Tang Eng Iron Works sostienen que el aumento de las importaciones vietnamitas y la caída de los precios causaron pérdidas internas de 2.800 millones de dólares taiwaneses el año pasado y redujeron la utilización de la capacidad al 50%. Los representantes de los productores vietnamitas responden que la cuota de mercado de las importaciones se mantiene en torno al 8% y que la caída de los precios refleja las tendencias del mercado regional más que un dumping intencionado. Cabe destacar que los transformadores locales Yuan Long y Tung Mung se han opuesto a la investigación, criticando a los productores intermedios por importar productos semielaborados laminados en caliente de bajo coste desde Indonesia mientras intentan bloquear las fuentes extranjeras de laminado en frío, y advirtiendo de que un margen de dumping del 31,36% reduciría la competitividad de las exportaciones y crearía riesgos en la cadena de suministro.