Anti-dumping tariffs of 18.1% to 103.1% will be applied to stainless steel billets and hot-rolled stainless steel plates from companies in the EU and the three Asian nations, effective July 23, China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.

The decision follows an anti-dumping probe in July last year after a complaint filed by state-owned Shanxi Taigang Stainless Steel.

“The investigation agency has made a final decree that there was dumping of the investigated products and it has caused substantive damage to the industry in China,” said the commerce ministry in the statement.

Stainless steel billets and hot-rolled stainless steel plates are mainly used as raw material to make cold-rolled stainless steel products or used in shipbuilding, containers, rail, power and other industries.

China, the world’s largest stainless steel producer, churned out 26.71 million tonnes of stainless steel products in 2018, up 2.4% from a year ago, according to China’s Stainless Steel Association.

The country imported 1.85 million tonnes of stainless steel products last year, up 53.7% from 2017.