The European Commission has imposed more anti-dumping duties on Chinese and Russian steel imports and has applied the penalties retroactively for the first time, in a fresh move to protect the bloc’s producers.

The duties on cold-rolled steel, which is used to make cars and washing machines, range up to 22.1 per cent for Chinese imports and up to 36.1 per cent for Russian imports. The rates are a little higher than provisional penalties in place since February.

The European steel industry has long called for tougher EU anti-dumping duties, which aim to protect the bloc’s companies from ultra-cheap imports. Using a different calculation method, the US imposed tariffs in excess of 500 per cent on similar cold-rolled steel materials from China earlier this year.