[SMM Hot Topic] What is the impact of Malaysia's anti-circumvention investigation on galvanized steel coils/sheets imported from China?

• Timeline
• July 4, 2025

Under the Countervailing and Anti-Dumping Duties Act 1993, the Malaysian government issued a preliminary ruling to impose provisional anti-dumping duties ranging from 3.86% to 57.90% on galvanized steel coils/sheets originating or exported from China, South Korea, and Vietnam. A final ruling on official duty implementation must be made within 120 days from July 7, 2025.

Table 1-Affected Products and 2024 Full-Year Export Volumes to Malaysia (10,000 mt)

• February 6, 2025

The Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry Malaysia announced an anti-dumping investigation into flat-rolled products of iron alloy or non-alloy steel, plated or coated with zinc via hot-dip process (galvanised iron coils/sheets or galvanised steel coils/sheets) originating from or imported from China, South Korea, and Vietnam. The investigation followed an application submitted by domestic producer CSC Steel Sdn. Bhd.

• Total export volumes of subject products increased 19.04% YoY, while total imports to Malaysia grew 1.27% YoYZ8/>Figure 1-China's Total Exports of Subject Products and YoY Changes, 2022-May 2025 (10,000 mt)

General Administration of Customs data shows China's exports of the subject products doubled in 2023, reaching 8.6188 million mt in 2024 with a YoY surge exceeding 200%. From January to May 2025, exports totaled 5.9296 million mt, up 19.04% YoY (4.9811 million mt in the same period of 2024), with a monthly average of 1.1859 million mt.

Figure 2-China's Total Exports of Subject Products to Malaysia and YoY Changes, 2022-May 2025 (10,000 mt)

China's exports of the subject products to Malaysia also grew year by year: from 17,400 mt in 2022 to 28,500 mt in 2023, and further to 143,200 mt in 2024. From January to May 2025, China exported 54,300 mt of the subject products to Malaysia, up approximately 1.27% YoY (53,600 mt in the same period of 2024), with a monthly average of 10,800 mt accounting for 0.91% of China's domestic monthly export average of subject products.

• Less than 1% of China’s exports of the subject products were destined for Malaysia, indicating relatively limited impact

Table 2-Ratio of Subject Product Exports to Malaysia vs. China's Total Exports, 2022-May 2025

The proportion of subject product exports to Malaysia relative to China's total exports remained below 1.5% historically, reflecting a relatively small share.

Overall, according to data from the General Administration of Customs, the total volume of the involved varieties exported from China to Malaysia in the first five months of 2025 was only 54,200 mt, accounting for less than 1% of China's total exports of the involved varieties. The overall impact was relatively small, and it was not on the same scale as the total domestic exports of the involved products. In extreme cases, this might lead to a YoY decrease of 54,300 mt in China's total exports in 2026.

SMM will keep real-time track of the progress and impact of overseas anti-dumping investigations on steel products. Please stay tuned for relevant reports. For more information, follow SMM's official account~