[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.

A investigação antidumping de Taiwan (PoC) sobre aço inoxidável laminado a frio vietnamita expôs uma divisão significativa na indústria. Os peticionários Yusco e Tang Eng Iron Works argumentam que o aumento das importações vietnamitas e a queda dos preços causaram NT$ 2,8 bilhões em perdas domésticas no ano passado e reduziram a utilização da capacidade para 50%. Os representantes dos produtores vietnamitas contestam que a participação de mercado das importações permanece em torno de 8% e que a queda dos preços reflete tendências do mercado regional, e não dumping intencional. Notavelmente, os processadores locais a jusante Yuan Long e Tung Mung se opuseram à investigação, criticando os produtores a montante por importarem produtos semiacabados laminados a quente de baixo custo da Indonésia enquanto buscam bloquear fontes estrangeiras de laminados a frio, e alertando que uma margem de dumping de 31,36% comprimiria a competitividade das exportações e criaria riscos na cadeia de suprimentos.