ITC Votes to Impose Duties on Wire Rod Imports From 3 Countries

Featured, Government Relations, Trade Cases

The International Trade Commission (ITC) voted 4-0 to provide relief to the US wire rod industry from imports from Belarus, Russia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The Commissioners will vote three separate times in this case.  They are scheduled to make final determinations in the AD investigations of South Africa and Ukraine by March 1, 2018, and in the AD and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations of the remaining countries – Italy, Korea, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom – by April 30, 2018.

The ITC also made a negative finding concerning critical circumstances with regard to imports from Russia.  As a result, imports of carbon and certain alloy steel wire rod from Russia will not be subject to retroactive antidumping duties.

The US Department of Commerce will issue antidumping (AD) orders with respect to wire rod from these countries. Final antidumping duties for these countries are:

Belarus – 280.02%

Russia:

Abinsk Electric Steel Works Ltd. and JSC NLMK-Ural – 756.93%

All Other Russian Producers – 436.80%

United Arab Emirates – 84.10%

You can find details about this finding on the US Commerce Fact Sheet here.

While the ITC’s injury determination may be seen as an indication of how the ITC will vote in the remaining investigations, we will know more when the ITC issues its written determination, which explains the basis for the determination.  The report should be issued on January 24,, 2018.  The public data includes the following information:

US Wire Rod Industry in 2016:

1. Number of U.S. producers: 8
2. Location of producers’ plants: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin.
3.  Production and related workers: 2,222.
4.  U.S. producers’ US shipments: $1.8 billion.
5.  Apparent US consumption: $2.8 billion.
6.  Ratio of subject imports to apparent US consumption: 10.5 percent

US Imports in 2016:

  1. Subject imports: $298.2 million.
  2. From Belarus, Russia, and United Arab Emirates: $54.4 million.
  3. From Italy, Korea, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom: $243.8 million.
  4. Non-subject imports: $703.2 million.
  5. Leading import sources: Canada, Ukraine, Korea, Turkey, and Spain.

There will be significant discussions at the AWPA Annual Meeting; Wire Company representatives should plan on attending the Active Member Business Meeting to be held Wednesday February 21 at 9 am.  Annual Meeting Registration is Open Now – February 18-21, 2018.