KOTRA '2021 First Half Trends in Import Regulations Against Korea' Report
[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] Amid the spread of COVID-19 and the strengthening of protectionism worldwide, global import restrictions targeting Korean products have not decreased. The number of regulations, which was 117 in 2011, exceeded 200 in 2017 and has more than doubled in ten years.
According to the '2021 First Half Trends of Import Restrictions Against Korea' report released by KOTRA on the 15th, as of the first half of this year, import restrictions against Korea were recorded from 28 countries, totaling 225 cases. Import restrictions include anti-dumping, countervailing duties, and safeguards (emergency import restrictions), including those under investigation.
Yearly import restrictions have shown an increasing trend: 117 cases in 2011, 127 in 2013, 166 in 2015, 187 in 2017, 210 in 2019, and 228 in 2020. Since surpassing 200 cases for the first time in June 2017, the number has rarely fallen below that level.
In the first half of the year, 18 new import restriction investigations were initiated by 12 countries. Specifically, there were 12 anti-dumping cases and 6 safeguard cases. Meanwhile, 22 ongoing restrictions were terminated. As a result, compared to the second half of last year, the total number of countries imposing restrictions increased by 2, while the number of cases decreased by 4.
Looking at import restrictions by type in the first half, anti-dumping accounted for 160 cases (72%), followed by safeguards with 56 cases (24%), and countervailing duties with 9 cases (4%). By country, the United States led with 45 cases, followed by India with 22, Turkey with 18, China with 15, Canada with 14, Thailand with 9, and Indonesia with 8. By product category, steel and metals (110 cases) and chemicals (50 cases) accounted for over 70%, with plastics and rubber at 19 cases, textiles at 17, electrical and electronics at 9, machinery at 2, and others at 18 cases.
Countries focusing on fostering manufacturing industries concentrated investigations targeting intermediate goods such as steel and metals in the first half. Looking at major country-specific cases, the United States initiated an anti-dumping investigation on Korean nitrile rubber and made a final decision to impose anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Korean seamless steel pipes and tires. The European Union (EU) started an anti-dumping investigation on employment resins and decided to extend the safeguard measures on steel products for three more years.
Some expect that in the future, to secure leadership in new industries such as digital and carbon neutrality, the introduction of trade barriers like carbon border taxes by various countries will expand.
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