U.S. Commerce Department Begins Unfair Trade Investigations of Steel Threaded Rod Imports
07/30/2013 - The Department of Commerce announced the initiation of antidumping duty investigations of imports of steel threaded rod from India and Thailand and a countervailing duty investigation of imports of steel threaded rod from India.
• The AD law provides U.S. businesses and workers with a transparent and internationally approved mechanism to seek relief from the market-distorting effects caused by injurious dumping of imports into the United States, establishing an opportunity to compete on a level playing field. The CVD law provides U.S. businesses, workers, and farmers with a transparent and internationally approved mechanism to seek relief from the market distorting effects caused by the unfair subsidization of imports into the United States, and thus to have an opportunity to compete on a level playing field.
• For the purpose of AD investigations, dumping occurs when a foreign company sells a product in the United States at less than its fair value. For the purpose of CVD investigations, countervailable subsidies are financial assistance from foreign governments that benefit the production of goods from foreign companies and are limited to specific enterprises or industries, or are contingent either upon export performance or upon the use of domestic goods over imported goods.
• The petitioners for these investigations are All America Threaded Products Inc. (Denver, Colo.), Bay Standard Manufacturing Inc. (Brentwood, Calif.), and Vulcan Threaded Products Inc. (Pelham, Ala.).
• The product covered by the scope of these investigations is certain carbon-quality steel threaded rod, bar, or studs that have been forged, turned, cold-drawn, cold-rolled, machine straightened, or otherwise cold-finished and into which threaded grooves have been applied. It is primarily used in commercial construction in which the threaded rods are cut to required lengths and used to support electrical conduit, pipes for plumbing, HVAC ductwork, and sprinkler pipes for fire protection systems. It is also used for structural tie downs in earthquake and hurricane restraints for roofing, as headless screws in general fastener applications, and for bolting together pipe joints in the waterworks industry.
• In 2012, imports of steel threaded rod from India and Thailand were valued at an estimated US$16.6 million and US$11.1 million, respectively.
|
Alleged Dumping Margins |
|
|
Country |
Dumping Margins |
|
India |
17.93–119.87% |
|
Thailand |
63.16–74.90% |
|
Estimated Subsidy Rate |
|
|
Country |
Subsidy Rate |
|
India |
Above de minimis* |
| * de minimis = less than 1% for developed countries, less than 2% for developing countries. | |
NEXT STEPS
• The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) is scheduled to make its preliminary injury determinations on or about 12 August 2013.
• If the ITC determines that there is a reasonable indication that imports from India and/or Thailand materially injure, or threaten material injury to, the domestic industry, the investigations will continue and Commerce will be scheduled to make its preliminary CVD determination in September 2013 and its preliminary AD determinations in December 2013, unless the statutory deadlines are extended. If the ITC preliminary determinations are negative, the investigations will be terminated.
