Trade disputes hurt Chinese exporters

Increasing trade protectionism around the world is hurting Chinese exporters. But analysts are also expecting that as US President Obama plans to be in China this month, the two countries will tone down trade spats to avoid any kind of unpleasant decisions. However many are sensing the atmosphere might get a bit tense.

On November the 3rd, the US Commerce Department announced plans to impose punitive duties of up to 438 percent on Chinese made steel wire. On the same day, Argentina launched an anti-dumping investigation on Chinese steel pipes.

Two days later, the US Commerce Department launched preliminary dumping duties of almost 100 percent on Chinese-made steel pipes. The move will affect 3.2 billion US dollars worth of exports, and over 90 Chinese steel workers.

Other nations are following the US moves. Australia and India both announced in November they would impose dumping taxes and investigate some Chinese exports.

The multiple protectionist moves have forced many Chinese companies to quit the international market.

Fan Huisheng, General Manager of Dalian Eastfound Material Handling Products said "The impact of these investigations is huge. We have had to shut down one of our factories. We exported nearly 100 containers every month to the US. But now the number is only around 20. We might soon lose all the market share in the US."

Steel pipe manufactures say many of them were able to export a quarter of their output. But this year, none of them have shipped a large amount of products overseas.

Shen Ganrong, General Manager of Zhejiang Kingland Pipeline said "Our exports this year will only account for 5 percent of our total output."

But China is hitting back at these protectionist measures. On November the 6th, China announced it would launch anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations on US auto exports with an engine size of 2.0 liters or above. Figures show that the top three automakers in the US export 42-thousand cars to China every year, worth nearly 2 billion US dollars. The value of those exports is comparable to the 1.7 billion US dollars worth of Chinese tire exports every year.