European steel industry association Eurofer said on Wednesday it had decided to withdraw an anti-dumping complaint against imports of cold-rolled flat stainless steel from China due to the economic downturn.

"It has become evident that the present economic and market crisis has rendered the anti-dumping complaint on stainless steel cold rolled obsolete," the Brussels-based association said in a statement.

"In the light of this, Eurofer has decided to withdraw this case with a view to refiling at a moment which would give a sounder basis for measures which would more adequately address the injury coming from any new surge of imports," it said.

Eurofer said the European Commission, which rules on anti-dumping cases in the European Union (EU), had made the commitment to install a monitoring mechanism which will provide almost real time information on import flows and to use all the possibilities for an early and accelerated imposition of measures in the event of a re-filed case provoked by a surge of imports.

Eurofer, representing major EU steel producers such as ArcelorMittal and ThyssenKrupp, filed an anti-dumping complaint against cold-rolled flat stainless steel imported from China in December 2007, prompting the commission to open investigation two months later.

(Xinhua News Agency March 5, 2009)