Morocco was slammed by the World Trade Organization (WTO) for imposing anti-dumping duties on Turkish hot-rolled coil, which violated the international regulator's rules on anti-dumping, reports Fast Markets. The organization's announcement was made public in a report published on October the 31st and entitled «Morocco anti-dumping measures on certain hot-rolled steel from Turkey». In its document the WTO explained the dispute between the two countries. «This dispute concerns the definitive anti-dumping measures imposed on imports of certain hot-rolled steel products from Turkey», says the same source. After the Ministry of Industry, Investment, Trade and Digital economy initiated an investigation on January the 21st, 2013, with respect to dumping allegations regarding hot-rolled steel from Turkey, Morocco «imposed provisional anti-dumping duties on the imported products», says WTO. The decision was taken after the Ministry in charge published a primarily affirmative determination of dumping, injury and causation. The measure was fully implemented on the 26th of September 2014. As a response, Turkey requested the World Trade Organization to look into the measure taken by the Kingdom, indicating that Morocco acted inconsistently with Article 5.10 of the Anti-Dumping Agreement. After consultation, the WTO issued its ruling stressing that «Morocco acted inconsistently with Article 6.8 in resorting to facts available to establish the margins of dumping for two Turkish producers». For the record, an anti-dumping duty is a protectionist tariff that a domestic government imposes on foreign imports that it believes are priced below fair market value. Dumping is a process where a company exports a product at a price lower than the price it normally charges in its own home market.
