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ITC Vote Authorizes Duties on Welded Steel Pipe from China
06/23/2008 - The U.S. ITC confirms material injury related to imports of circular welded carbon-quality steel pipe from China that are subsidized and sold in the United States at less than fair value, leading to the issuance of countervailing and antidumping duty orders by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has identified material injury to a U.S. industry due to imports of circular welded carbon-quality steel pipe from China that the U.S. Department of Commerce has determined are subsidized and sold in the United States at less than fair value.
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Because the Commerce Department previously made affirmative critical circumstances determinations with regard to imports of this product from China, the Commissioners who made an affirmative injury determination were also required to determine whether these imports would be likely to undermine seriously the remedial effect of the antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders Commerce will issue.
All five participating Commissioners made negative findings with regard to critical circumstances in these investigations.
As a result, the countervailing duty order concerning these imports will not apply to goods that entered the United States from China prior to November 13, 2007, and the antidumping duty order concerning these imports will not apply to goods that entered the United States from China prior to January 15, 2008, the dates of the Department of Commerce's affirmative preliminary determinations.
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Chairman Shara L. Aranoff, Vice Chairman Daniel R. Pearson, and Commissioners Deanna Tanner Okun, Charlotte R. Lane, and Irving A. Williamson voted in the affirmative. Commissioner Dean A. Pinkert did not participate in these investigations.
This ITC decision marks the first time that a countervailing duty, or anti-subsidy, order has been imposed on a steel product from China. This is also the first time that a countervailing duty case on China has resulted in a countervailing duty order since the Commerce Department began to initiate countervailing duty investigations of Chinese imports in October 2006.
As a result of the Commission's affirmative determinations, the Department of Commerce will issue countervailing and antidumping duty orders on imports of this product from China. Antidumping duties will range from 69.20 to 85.55%, while countervailing duties will range from 29.57 to 615.92%, with an average subsidy rate for all respondents of 37.22%. These final duties were issued on May 30, 2008 by the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC).
This investigation covered circular welded steel pipe products with an outside diameter of 0.372 inches up to 16 inches. These products, known generally as standard and structural pipe, are used in plumbing applications, HVAC systems, sprinkler systems, fencing, and construction.
The trade suit, filed in parallel with the International Trade Commission (ITC) and the Department of Commerce on June 7, 2007, was brought by the Ad Hoc Coalition for Fair Pipe Imports from China and the United Steelworkers. The Ad Hoc Coalition includes Allied Tube & Conduit, Ipsco Tubulars, Inc., Northwest Pipe Co., Sharon Tube Co., Western Tube & Conduit Corp., and Wheatland Tube Co.
According to the committee, imports of pipe and tube products covered in this investigation increased from 10,000 tons in 2002 to 750,000 tons in 2007—a 6900% increase. As a result of this surge in low-priced imports, U.S. producers lost market share and suffered decreases in profitability over the period investigated. The committee said that 500 American jobs—approximately 25% of the total workforce employed in this segment of the domestic pipe industry—have been lost since 2002 as a result of Chinese imports.
