Linqing Hengtai Metal Materials passes the EU’s new exporter review and drops from a 62.3% blanket rate to 24.6%, after proving it never sold to Europe during the original investigation
April 17th, 2026 – When the EU imposed anti-dumping duties on Chinese tinplate steel last year, it set a punishing 62.3% rate for any Chinese producer that had not participated in the original investigation. While acting as a deterrent against evasion, the rate also caught companies that simply were not exporting to Europe at the time, as is the case of Linqing Hengtai Metal Materials Co. Ltd, who’s the main protagonist of a new Regulation published today, correcting their case.
Linqing Hengtai, a Chinese producer of tinplate flat-rolled steel products, has successfully completed the EU’s new exporter review procedure and now faces a 24.6% duty rate, the rate applied to cooperating Chinese producers that were not sampled in the original investigation, instead of the 62.3% residual rate. The company applied for the review in August 2025, shortly after the definitive duties were imposed by the Commission in May 2025 under Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1042.
To qualify, Linqing Hengtai had to clear three hurdles. First, it had to show it did not export tinplate to the EU during the original investigation period running from April 2023 to March 2024. The Commission confirmed this, as the company only started producing tinplate in January 2024, three months before the investigation period closed, and made no EU exports during that window. Second, it had to demonstrate it has no links to any Chinese producer already subject to the measures. The Commission verified its ownership structure and confirmed no such connections exist, also rejecting a claim by EU steel association Eurofer that a European trading company had acquired the firm. Third, it had to prove it had actually exported to the EU after the investigation period ended, which it did, with verified export documentation showing shipments to Europe from October 2025 onwards, with the correct anti-dumping duties paid.
Eurofer had raised concerns that Linqing Hengtai was not a fully integrated steelmaker but rather a re-roller that buys semi-finished steel from other producers, some of whom face higher duty rates, and converts it into tinplate. The Commission acknowledged the concern but found no legal basis to refuse the review on those grounds, since the EU’s anti-dumping framework does not require a producer to be vertically integrated from raw steel production.
The practical result is that Linqing Hengtai now joins the list of cooperating non-sampled Chinese producers at the 24.6% rate, effective from 18 April 2026. For importers sourcing tinplate from this specific producer, the change means significantly lower customs costs going forward.
