US Companies file AD and CVD Petitions for Wire Rod Against China

A five company coalition of US producers of carbon and certain alloy steel wire rod comprised of ArcelorMittal USA LLC, Charter Steel, Evraz Rocky Mountain Steel, Gerdau Ameristeel US Inc and Keystone Consolidated Industries Inc was joined by Nucor Corporation in filing an antidumping duty petition charging that unfairly traded imports of wire rod from China are causing material injury to the domestic wire rod industry.

The dumping margins alleged by the domestic industry range from 100% to 110%. The domestic industry also filed a countervailing duty petition alleging that the Chinese Government provided significant subsidies to Chinese wire rod producers. The petitions were filed concurrently with the United States Department of Commerce and the United States International Trade Commission.

The petitions were filed in response to large and increasing volumes of low priced imports of wire rod over the past three years that have injured US wire rod producers. In 2012 and 2013, imports of wire rod from China surged into the US market, rising from 144 tonnes in 2011 to over 614,000 tonnes in 2013.

China is now the largest source of wire rod imports in the United States. The petitions allege that producers in China have injured the domestic industry by selling their products at unfairly low prices that significantly undercut U.S. producer prices. As a result of this unfair competition, the domestic industry has suffered declines in production, sales and employment, and has seen its profitability diminish.

The petition states that Chinese producers covered by the petitions have massive capacity to produce wire rod and pose a continuing threat to the health of the US industry. If the cases are successful, import duties will be imposed, offsetting the unfair trade practices that have allowed the imports from China to injure the domestic industry.

Mr Paul Rosenthal of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP the lead trade counsel to the Coalition petitioners said that "Imports of unfairly low priced and subsidized wire rod from China have devastated pricing in the US market and caused injury to the domestic industry."

He said that "The domestic industry looks forward to the opportunity to present its case to the Commerce Department and U.S. International Trade Commission to obtain relief from unfairly traded imports of wire rod."

Source – Strategic Research Institute

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