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Canadian Steel Producers Welcome Ruling on Unfair Imports

09/12/2006 -  

Sep. 12, 2006 — Canadian steel companies Algoma, Dofasco and Ipsco applauded the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) for its decision to continue a Hot-Rolled steel sheet dumping finding against Brazil, China, Chinese Taipei, India, South Africa and Ukraine, and to continue a subsidy finding against India.

Dumping is the practice of selling a product into another country at less than the price in the home market—or less than the cost of production.

The finding is a continuation of the original 2001 ruling, which found the above-named countries to have injured Canadian producers by selling dumped and subsidized Hot-Rolled steel sheet into Canada. The CITT rulings are valid for a term of five years, and the current ruling will apply until 2011.

The new finding means Hot-Rolled steel sheet originating in or exported from these countries will be required to be at monitored values, leveling the playing field for Canada's domestic producers.

"The Canadian steel market has historically been characterized by persistent dumping by foreign producers and subsidization by their governments" Paul Finley, Vice President of Business Planning and Corporate Secretary of Algoma Steel said in a statement. "Without the continuation of the finding, the Canadian steel industry would have experienced significant injury."

The CITT is vested with the authority to conduct inquiries into whether dumped or subsidized imports have caused or are threatening to cause material injury to the domestic industry, after the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has determined that dumping and subsidies have occurred or are likely to resume or continue.

"We are very pleased that the CITT has found that without the continuation of the finding, Canadian producers would have been vulnerable to predatory and opportunistic trade practices, which would have resulted
in significant distortions and injury to the Canadian Hot-Rolled sheet marketplace" said Jacques Chabanier, CEO of Dofasco. He continued, "This is a very important case for Canada. It sends a strong message to countries considering dumping and subsidy of other steel products into Canada."

David Sutherland, CEO of Ipsco, said "The continuation of the CITT finding is important, not only for Canada, but also for the North American steel industry, as the U.S. already has dumping findings in place against these countries. This addresses the concern that absent the CITT finding, Canada would have been used as a back-door for illegally dumped imports into the North American market".

Algoma Steel is a fully integrated steel producer based in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.. Revenues are derived primarily from the manufacture and sale of rolled steel products including hot and cold rolled sheet and plate.

Dofasco is a leading North American steel solutions provider. Product lines include hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, Extragal(TM), Galvalume(TM) and tinplate flat rolled steels, as well as tubular products, laser-welded blanks and Zyplex(TM), a proprietary laminate.

Ipsco operates steel mills at three locations and pipe mills at six locations in the United States and Canada. As a low-cost North American steel producer, Ipsco has a combined annual steelmaking capacity of 3,500,000 tons. The company's tubular facilities produce a wide range of tubular products including line pipe, oil and gas well casing and tubing, standard pipe and hollow structurals. Steel can also be further processed at Ipsco's five temper leveling and coil processing facilities.