CRI听力:Chinese steel firms never dump their products: official

Xia Nong, deputy director-general of the National Development and Reform Commission's department of industrial policies, says China's steel products are highly competitive globally, and have gained a good reputation in international trade.

This is due, he says, to the efforts of the steel companies rather than government's subsidies.

China now uses the most efficient, low energy consuming and highly sophisticated steel manufacturing equipment in the world, which has helped cut production costs significantly and boost firms' competitiveness.

Xia's remarks come after several countries, including the United States, have conducted anti-dumping investigations and adopted measures against Chinese steel exports.

The official said protectionism will not fundamentally help solve the problem in the global steel industry, and will instead deal a further blow to international trade order.

"The steel trade mainly depends on the needs of the supply and the demand sides, which results in a market behavior. So I think prudent, restrained and standardized attitudes should be adopted in solving the current friction and disputes facing the steel trade."

Xia added that the average export price for China's steel sheets last year was 3670 yuan, or over 550 U.S. dollars per ton, while domestic steel sheets were priced at 3600 yuan per ton at most.

As such, there is no question of Chinese companies dumping steel products.

The official also criticized the U.S. for hampering world steel trade by launching a Section 337 investigation - which looks into allegations of unfair practices in import trade - on China's steel products.

"The U.S. has launched Section 337 investigations while the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures are still effective. We believe this is tantamount to duplicating trade remedy or abuse of trade protection measures. We are strongly opposed to it."

Xia also noted that China has discouraged massive steel exports as a response to the country's current national conditions.

Instead, it has taken a series of measures in cutting export tax rebates and levy higher tariffs to control exports and solve overcapacity.

He said the tax refund rate for steel exports is lower than the value-added tax rate of 17 percent, which is in line with WTO rules.

For CRI, I'm Xie Cheng.