By Brazil Stock Guide — Brazil has made a preliminary finding that Chinese manufacturers dumped refractory materials in the Brazilian market, with dumping margins reaching 205.5%, but has decided against imposing provisional anti-dumping duties. The decision was published Monday (October 19) in the country’s Federal Official Gazette by the Secretariat of Foreign Trade (Secex).
The investigation, launched in September 2025 following a petition from the Brazilian Association of Refractory Manufacturers (Abrafar), covers materials used to line furnaces and other high-temperature industrial equipment, particularly in steelmaking, cement, aluminum and petrochemicals. Domestic producers included in the injury assessment are RHI Magnesita and Ibar. Major steelmakers CSN, Gerdau and Usiminas also feature in the proceedings as industrial users or importers of the products under investigation.
Brazil’s Department of Trade Remedies (Decom) calculated preliminary dumping margins of 205.5% for China’s Shandong Luqiao, 136.5% for state-owned CNBM and 124.4% for Yingkou Bayuquan Refractories and the Jinlong Group. The absolute dumping margins ranged from $1,088.58 to $1,345.98 per metric ton. These figures are not tariffs that have been imposed, but estimates of the difference between benchmark normal values and export prices.
According to Decom, the volume of Chinese refractory imports rose 69.4% in the 12 months through September 2024 compared with the preceding year. Over the same period, domestic sales volumes at the Brazilian manufacturers covered by the injury assessment fell 1.7%, while production declined 4.6%. Their operating profit dropped 80.5%, a deterioration the trade authority linked to pressure from lower-priced Chinese imports on domestic prices and profit margins.
The investigation has also revived a long-running competition dispute in Brazil’s refractory materials industry. In 2017, Austria’s RHI sought approval from Brazil’s antitrust watchdog, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade), to acquire Magnesita, prompting concerns about market concentration. One of the commitments associated with the transaction involved requesting the suspension of existing anti-dumping measures on imports from China and Mexico. The duties were suspended in 2018 after a public-interest review concluded that their negative economic effects outweighed the benefits of protecting domestic producers.
Companies including Vesuvius and Carboox have now challenged RHI Magnesita’s involvement in the latest investigation. In submissions to the Brazilian authorities, they argued that pursuing renewed anti-dumping protection could conflict with commitments previously made to safeguard competition in the sector. Decom rejected the argument as grounds for blocking the investigation, saying antitrust obligations imposed by Cade do not override Brazil’s trade-remedy rules. Any alleged breach of those commitments, it said, must be addressed by the relevant authorities.
Another point of contention concerns how the dumping margins were calculated. Brazil determined that market conditions do not predominantly prevail in China’s refractory industry, citing government influence over investment, production and pricing. As a result, the authorities selected the United States as a surrogate market for establishing the benchmark normal values used to assess Chinese exports.
Chinese exporters and Vesuvius challenged that approach, arguing that countries such as India, Turkey and Spain would provide more appropriate comparisons. Decom nevertheless upheld its choice of the United States, relying on commercial data submitted by Resco Products, a company within the RHI Magnesita group. The department said the information allowed for a more detailed comparison of the products under investigation.
Despite its preliminary findings of dumping, material injury and a causal link between the two, Decom decided that further examination was warranted before recommending temporary duties. The authority cited the complexity of the case and the need to give interested parties additional opportunities to present evidence and arguments.
Decom’s final determination report is scheduled for February 2027. Until then, the investigation leaves unresolved a dispute between domestic manufacturers seeking protection from imports deemed unfairly priced and industrial buyers concerned about maintaining competition and controlling the cost of an essential input for steel and cement production.
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