According to media reports, Chilean steel producer CAP Acero has requested the nation’s price distortion commission, CNDP, to start antidumping investigations on the imports of wire rod from China.

The Chilean producer reportedly blamed the Chinese imports of the product for the “damages” it has caused to the local steel industry, as wire rod imports from China have reached “significant volumes”. According to same media reports, CAP Acero said it wants to prevent more damages to the local steel industry. In its request to CNDP, CAP Acero argued that China was the world’s main wire rod exporter in 2014, selling 11 million mt of the product overseas, while Chilean imports of the steel from the Asian country have increased five times in the 2011-2015 period.

CAP Acero stopped its flat steel production and idled a blast furnace in June 2013, as a result of the competition with the imported steel and due to the decline of steel prices. CAP Acero said the current “distortions” in the long steel market, such as in the case of wire rod, threatens the sustainability of its operations.