Steel Mills

Steel Mills ask DOC to Revoke Suspension Agreement on Russian CTL Steel Plate

May 6, 2015

Nucor, SSAB, and ArcelorMittal USA have petitioned the Department of Commerce to overturn a suspension trade deal that excuses Russian producers of cut-to-length (CTL) steel plate from paying import duties.

The three steel mills said increasing exports of low-priced CTL steel plate to the U.S. is injuring the domestic industry.

A suspension agreement signed in 1997 and amended in 2003 defers anti-dumping duties on steel plate products from Russia.

“The suspension agreement and its normal value pricing mechanism have failed to function as originally intended, and instead have facilitated Russian producers’ exports of large and increasing volumes of low-priced CTL plate to the U.S. market,” the companies said in the submission to the DOC.

If the suspension agreement is revoked, Severstal will be assessed antidumping duties of 53.8 percent and other Russian producers duties of 185.00 percent, according to information reported by Reuters.

Last week an action was brought against Chinese producers of CTL steel plate by Nucor and SSAB. The Chinese producers are accused of adding alloy to carbon steel products to circumvent import duties on CTL steel plate.