UPDATE 2-EU steelmakers file new China imports complaint

(adds Mittal comments, background)

By William Schomberg and David Lawsky

BRUSSELS, Nov 27 (Reuters) - European steelmakers launched a new anti-dumping complaint over surging imports of steel from China on Tuesday, a day before a China-European Union summit dominated by growing trade friction.

The complaint over imports of wire rod used mainly in construction was also levelled against Turkey, the European Confederation of Iron and Steel Industries (Eurofer) said.

Last month Eurofer asked the European Commission to impose anti-dumping duties on imports of stainless steel cold-rolled flat products from China, South Korea and Taiwan and on hot-dipped metallic coated sheet and strip from China.

European trade chief Peter Mandelson, who will take part in Wednesday's summit in Beijing, has warned he might take action if China does not address its barriers to EU businesses.

He has previously suggested he is sympathetic to the complaints of the European steelmakers.

Eurofer said wire rod imports from China and Turkey into the European Union rose more than 400 percent from 2004 to 2007.

"The root cause of these dramatic, market-distorting export surges is the economically irrational growth of steel capacities outpacing the growth of domestic steel consumption," Eurofer Director General Gordon Moffat said in a statement.