UPDATE 1-China loses WTO appeal in stainless steel dispute with EU, Japan

(Adds details, EU comment)
By Tom Miles
GENEVA, Oct 14 (Reuters) - China lost an appeal ruling on
Wednesday in a World Trade Organization dispute in which Japan
and the European Union had complained about Chinese use of
anti-dumping duties on high performance, seamless stainless
steel tubes.
A WTO dispute panel had largely ruled against China in
February, but all three parties appealed, and the WTO's
Appellate Body strengthened the case against China, reversing
points where the panel had backed Beijing. ID:nL5N0VN4AF
The dispute was one of a series of often tit-for-tat trade
complaints where China and its richer trading rivals sparred to
protect their firms' right to take advantage of each others'
markets, a rivalry that was supercharged by China's faster
economic growth and its growing share of world exports.
China had alleged that Japanese and EU makers of the tubes,
which are used in coal-fired power plants, were selling their
product at an unfairly cheap price in China, and in 2012 it
imposed an "anti-dumping duty" to restrict their imports.
Japan and the EU complained to the WTO in a bid to support
producers such as Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp 5401.T ,
Tubacex S.A TUBA.MC in Spain and Salzgitter AG SZGG.DE in
Germany.
At the peak in 2008, Japan exported around $224 million of
the pipes to China while the EU made sales of $283 million,
according to a Reuters analysis of data from the International
Trade Centre (ITC), a joint agency of the WTO and United
Nations.
In 2012, exports from both the EU and Japan were worth less
than $80 million, the ITC figures show.
The WTO appeal ruling is final and China will now be asked
to bring its rules into line with global trade rules.
The EU said in a statement that the ruling was "of systemic
importance".
"It highlights again the shortcomings of Chinese trade
defence investigations and provides guidance how the WTO rules
on price effects, disclosure of essential facts and confidential
treatment of information should be applied in the future."
But the WTO ruling may be too late to repair any damage done
to Japanese and EU exporters because such decisions do not have
retroactive effect. Since the trade dispute erupted, China's
economic growth, including growth in electricity production, has
slowed sharply.