China, EU looking for solution to steel disputes

A worker checks steel product files at a cold rolling mill of Tangsteel Group Ltd in Tangshan, Hebei province. [Photo/China Daily]

China and the European Union are looking for "an appropriate mechanism" to solve their steel trade disputes, the Ministry of Commerce said on Saturday.

The ministry confirmed reports that Chinese and EU leaders discussed steel trade, and the many European anti-dumping investigations into Chinese steel, during the 18th China-EU summit, held on Tuesday.

The EU has launched 15 anti-dumping investigations into Chinese exports since 2014, with eight of them related to steel products.

"Leaders from both sides have asked their departments in charge of foreign trade to enhance exchanges in the steel trade," according to a brief statement on the ministry's website.

Ministry officials have said on many occasions that China, the world's largest steel producer, has been wrongly blamed for the difficulties faced by the global steel industry. Actually, it is the anemic global economy and weak demand that are to blame.

The ministry maintains that frequent use of protectionist measures will not help end global steel overcapacity, but rather disrupts normal trade order.