Starting on 2 July 2015, Malaysia will impose a final safeguard duty on grades of Hot Rolled Steel Plate (HRP) imports as set out in the First Schedule of the Federal Government Gazette P.U. (B) 263 dated 29 June 2015, for three years period. The Government had initiated the safeguard investigation on Aug 18, 2014 based on a petition filed by Ji Kang Dimensi Sdn Bhd on behalf of domestic HRP producers. This safeguard duty is imposed to prevent and remedy the effects of serious injury to the domestic industry caused by the surge in imports of HRP, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry said in a statement.

The provisional safeguards duty would replace the provisional duty of 23.93% on Dec 14, 2014 that has been applied for 200 days. The progressive liberalisation will be from 2 July 2015 – 1 July 2016 (17.40%), 2 July 2016 – 1 July  2017 (13.90%), and 2 July 2017 – 1 July 2018 (10.40%).