KUALA LUMPUR: The iron and steel sector is among the industries most frequently affected by dumped imports, with the government investigating products from six countries and territories to protect local manufacturers from unfair trade practices.
Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said the investigations covered imports from China, Taipei, South Korea, Japan, India and Vietnam.
"These products are generally intermediate inputs in production chains rather than finished products or cheap consumer goods sold directly to consumers," he said in a written parliamentary reply.
The government amended the Countervailing and Anti-Dumping Duties Act in 2025 and is reviewing the regulations introduced in 1994 to ensure trade remedies remain relevant and effective.
Malaysia's total imports rose 22.4 per cent to RM1.158 trillion from January to August 2026, while imports from China increased 41.2 per cent to RM308.12 billion, accounting for 21.1 per cent of total imports.
Johari said the increase was driven mainly by intermediate and capital goods used for production and investment, which rose 15.6 per cent, while imports of consumer goods grew 3.7 per cent.
He said the government continued to monitor import prices and dumping trends, and would take action if investigations established injury to local industries or an import surge that met the criteria under domestic laws and WTO rules.
"If investigations establish injury or an import surge in accordance with domestic laws and WTO rules, trade remedies such as anti-dumping, countervailing or safeguard duties will be imposed," he said.
He was responding to a question from Mohd Syahir Sulaiman (PN-Bachok) on the impact of trade diversion and import dumping amid rising global tariffs, the sectors affected and measures to protect local industries.
The ministry had previously announced that an anti-dumping investigation was launched on Aug 6 following petitions from local steel manufacturers, who claimed that unfairly priced imports were harming the domestic industry.
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