South Korea's trade watchdog said Thursday it will extend its existing antidumping duty on Japanese stainless steel plates, citing substantial damage to the local industry.

The Korea Trade Commission said Seoul will continue to apply the 13.17 percent antidumping tariff on the Japanese products for the next five years.

South Korea has been imposing the tariff on the Japanese plates since April 2011. The plates are widely used in different industries including the petrochemical, shipbuilding and chip segments.

The tariff mainly targets those from Japan's Nippon Steel Stainless Steel Corp., Nippon Yakin Kogyo Co. and JFE Steel Corp.

The local market of such plates was estimated at 300 billion won (US$233 million) in 2018.

South Korean plates accounted for 70 percent, while Japanese products accounted for less than 1 percent. (Yonhap)