Commerce Department Sets Duties on Hot Rolled Coil Imports
08/08/2016 - The U.S. Commerce Department will impose anti-dumping duties of between 3.7 and 34.3 percent on hot rolled coil from seven countries, the department has announced.
In issuing its final determination in the case on Friday, the department affirmed an earlier ruling that producers in Australia, Brazil, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Turkey had undercut domestic prices, harming U.S. producers.
The department also affirmed a preliminary finding that producers in Brazil, Korea and Turkey are additionally benefitting from unfair government subsidies. Producers in those countries will face additional countervailing duties of between 0.3 percent and 57 percent, the department said.
The case arose last year on a complaint from several U.S. steelmakers -- AK Steel Corp., ArcelorMittal USA, Nucor Corp., SSAB Enterprises LLC, Steel Dynamics Inc., and United States Steel Corp. It is one of several dumping complaints brought by the U.S. industry.
In a statement, U. S. Steel chief executive Mario Longhi said he applauds the Commerce Department’s final determination.
“United States Steel Corporation is pleased by the Department of Commerce’s final determinations in each of the three flat-rolled trade cases we filed in 2015. The (department’s) thorough investigations have resulted in findings confirming what we knew to be true -- that these countries have subsidized and dumped steel products on our shores,” he said.
The United Steelworkers union, which also had supported the complaints, said it, too, agreed with the outcome.
"The Commerce Department's final ruling was anxiously awaited by steelworkers and steel companies for the past year of the investigation. It levels the playing field with imports to provide fair and sustainable market prices for American steel, a critical step in restoring balance to the market," said Leo Gerard, the union’s international president, in a statement.
"The hot-rolled steel trade case and others like it are vital to saving steel jobs and our communities. But they're only part of the solution. Chinese excess steel overcapacity is causing terrible injury world-wide and remains a long-term threat,” he said.
The department also affirmed a preliminary finding that producers in Brazil, Korea and Turkey are additionally benefitting from unfair government subsidies. Producers in those countries will face additional countervailing duties of between 0.3 percent and 57 percent, the department said.
The case arose last year on a complaint from several U.S. steelmakers -- AK Steel Corp., ArcelorMittal USA, Nucor Corp., SSAB Enterprises LLC, Steel Dynamics Inc., and United States Steel Corp. It is one of several dumping complaints brought by the U.S. industry.
In a statement, U. S. Steel chief executive Mario Longhi said he applauds the Commerce Department’s final determination.
“United States Steel Corporation is pleased by the Department of Commerce’s final determinations in each of the three flat-rolled trade cases we filed in 2015. The (department’s) thorough investigations have resulted in findings confirming what we knew to be true -- that these countries have subsidized and dumped steel products on our shores,” he said.
The United Steelworkers union, which also had supported the complaints, said it, too, agreed with the outcome.
"The Commerce Department's final ruling was anxiously awaited by steelworkers and steel companies for the past year of the investigation. It levels the playing field with imports to provide fair and sustainable market prices for American steel, a critical step in restoring balance to the market," said Leo Gerard, the union’s international president, in a statement.
"The hot-rolled steel trade case and others like it are vital to saving steel jobs and our communities. But they're only part of the solution. Chinese excess steel overcapacity is causing terrible injury world-wide and remains a long-term threat,” he said.
