Korea Customs Service Uncovers 11 Companies Falsely Labeling Chinese Steel Products as Domestic

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] A company that disguised steel products imported from overseas, including China, as domestic products and distributed them was caught by customs authorities.

The Busan Regional Customs Office of the Korea Customs Service announced on the 6th that it conducted a focused crackdown on the origin labeling of non-alloy steel pipes from May to November and caught 11 importers for violating origin labeling regulations.

The caught companies mainly removed origin labels from Chinese non-alloy steel pipes through outsourced processing such as galvanizing and primer (surface removal), or imported and distributed the products without origin labels, claiming they were ultimately used for domestic manufacturing.

Additionally, some companies falsely stated the origin as 'MADE IN KOREA' on trade documents when exporting imported non-alloy steel pipes to third countries.

The non-alloy steel pipes distributed domestically or overseas by the caught companies through these methods are estimated to be worth approximately 78.3 billion KRW at market price.

A representative from the Busan Regional Customs Office of the Korea Customs Service said, “We plan to continuously conduct themed planned crackdowns to eradicate origin laundering activities that disguise low-priced imported goods as domestic products, thereby shrinking domestic industries and disrupting market order.”

Meanwhile, non-alloy steel pipes are a type of piping material essential for power plants, petrochemical facilities, and other uses.