Thai steelmakers have urged the government to seek anti-dumping measures to cope with cheap imports as some countries may have violated rules of origin agreements under the World Trade Organization, says Somsak Leeswadtrakul, the honorary executive committee chairman of the Iron and Steel Institute of Thailand.
Local steelmakers see Turkey, Brazil, Iran and Egypt as the four major sources of trouble for the industry.
Mr Somsak said China has also continued to dump its steel products into Thailand despite several Thai government petitions to the WTO to impose penalties.
"We doubt whether steel products from these four countries are being honest about their country of origin before re-exportation to other countries, as Chinese products face penalty import tariffs in many countries. The Chinese dump cheap steel all over the world," he said.
The institute asked the steel industry to inspect these products' source of production to seek penalty measures for violations of WTO's rules of origin.
"We need stronger safeguards because the imported steel volume keeps rising every year despite stagnant domestic consumption. This is unfair," said Mr Somsak.
Import volume from these four countries was reported at 250,000 tonnes in 2015 and the institute expects it to rise to 400,000 tonnes this year.
In a related development yesterday 49 steelmakers agreed to an Industry Ministry pact to commit to maintain product quality.
Industry Minister Atchaka Sibunruang said the government is serious about controlling steel product quality, with strict inspections planned by the Thai Industrial Standards Institute (TISI) as low-quality products can put consumers at great risk. The ministry is also concerned about low-quality imports from China.
In 2015 China exported 112 million tonnes out of total output of 810 million. Thailand imported 4 million tonnes from China last year.
Tawat Polquamdee, secretary-general of TISI, said 26 of 75 local steel companies have been blacklised by TISI because of their poor product quality. Blacklisted companies are given a one-month deadline to improve their quality to reach the TISI standard. If they fail and poor-quality products are found in the market, these firms face a 1-million-baht fine and maximum two-year jail term, he said.