U.S. Electrical Steel Producers to Appeal Decision in Trade Case
10/24/2014 - U.S. producers of grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES) will file an appeal of the negative decision on "material injury" by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC).
AK Steel Corp. and Allegheny Ludlum, LLC d/b/a ATI Flat Rolled Producers, an Allegheny Technologies company, and the United Steelworkers (USW), which represents workers engaged in the production of GOES at ATI Flat Rolled Products, appealed the decision to the Court of International Trade.
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW), which represents workers engaged in the production of GOES at AK Steel, also expressed its support for the appeal.
The decision by the ITC on 23 October covered imports of GOES from the Czech Republic, China, South Korea and Russia.
"We are very disappointed by the negative determination by the ITC," said David A. Hartquist of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, counsel to petitioners. "We believe the case warranted an affirmative determination and that the majority decision contains fundamental errors of fact and law. The Department of Commerce found antidumping margins of up to 159%, which caused lost sales and significant financial injury to the U.S. producers, which in our judgment met the legal standard for an affirmative determination. Therefore, the petitioners will appeal the decision to the Court of International Trade."
The petitioners also filed an appeal on 16 September 2014 of a similar ITC negative decision covering imports from Germany, Japan and Poland.
GOES is a flat-rolled alloy steel product that contains by weight at least 0.6% but not more than 6% of silicon, not more than 0.08% of carbon, and not more than 1% of aluminum. The petitions cover GOES that is sold in either sheet or strip form, in coils or in straight lengths. GOES is manufactured using a specialized rolling and annealing process that yields grain structures uniformly oriented in the rolling (or lengthwise) direction of the sheet, enabling it to conduct a magnetic field with a high degree of efficiency. Based on these unique product characteristics, GOES is used primarily in the production of laminated cores for large and medium-sized electrical power transformers and distribution transformers.
The petitioners are represented in these actions by David A. Hartquist and John M. Herrmann of the law firm Kelley Drye & Warren LLP.
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW), which represents workers engaged in the production of GOES at AK Steel, also expressed its support for the appeal.
The decision by the ITC on 23 October covered imports of GOES from the Czech Republic, China, South Korea and Russia.
"We are very disappointed by the negative determination by the ITC," said David A. Hartquist of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, counsel to petitioners. "We believe the case warranted an affirmative determination and that the majority decision contains fundamental errors of fact and law. The Department of Commerce found antidumping margins of up to 159%, which caused lost sales and significant financial injury to the U.S. producers, which in our judgment met the legal standard for an affirmative determination. Therefore, the petitioners will appeal the decision to the Court of International Trade."
The petitioners also filed an appeal on 16 September 2014 of a similar ITC negative decision covering imports from Germany, Japan and Poland.
GOES is a flat-rolled alloy steel product that contains by weight at least 0.6% but not more than 6% of silicon, not more than 0.08% of carbon, and not more than 1% of aluminum. The petitions cover GOES that is sold in either sheet or strip form, in coils or in straight lengths. GOES is manufactured using a specialized rolling and annealing process that yields grain structures uniformly oriented in the rolling (or lengthwise) direction of the sheet, enabling it to conduct a magnetic field with a high degree of efficiency. Based on these unique product characteristics, GOES is used primarily in the production of laminated cores for large and medium-sized electrical power transformers and distribution transformers.
The petitioners are represented in these actions by David A. Hartquist and John M. Herrmann of the law firm Kelley Drye & Warren LLP.
