Steel Products Prices North America

Canada Confirms Duties on Plate from Germany, Taiwan; Turkey Escapes

Written by Michael Cowden

February 8, 2021

Canada has determined that plate imported from Germany and Taiwan has injured its domestic plate industry and will impose anti-dumping duties as a result.

Plate from Turkey was exempted from the trade action because the volumes exported to Canada were found to be “negligible,” the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) said.

The decision–released late last week by the CITT–means that AD duties calculated in January by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) will be applied.canada

The CBSA last month slapped German steelmaker AG der Dillinger Hüttenwerke with a dumping margin of 6.3% on its exports of heavy plate to Canada. All other German exporters face a dumping margin of 68.6%.

China Steel Corporation, the largest integrated steelmaker in Taiwan, was hit with a dumping margin of 7%. All other Taiwanese exporters of heavy plate could see dumping margins of 80.6%.

The trade case process in Canada is like that in the U.S. The CBSA, like the U.S. Commerce Department, calculates duty margins. The CITT, like the U.S. International Trade Commission, decides whether domestic mills have been injured by imports. In Canada, as in the U.S., duties are not imposed unless imports are determined to have injured domestic mills.

The trade case covered hot-rolled carbon steel plate and high strength low-alloy steel plate. Coiled plate and floor plate were not included in the investigation.

“The Tribunal finds that the dumping of the above‑mentioned goods, originating in or exported from Chinese Taipei and Germany, has caused material injury to the domestic industry,” CITT said. The agency will release the reasoning behind that finding withing 15 days.

Canada has only one domestic plate producer, Algoma. And the Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario-based steelmaker is taking July orders for plate, market participants have told Steel Market Update. Lead times for Canadian plate, in other words, are already into the second half of 2021.

SMU does not officially track Canadian plate prices. But steel prices in Canada tend to trend with prices in the U.S. once currency exchange rates are considered. And prices have been high.

SMU’s average plate price, fob mill, stands at $1,015 per ton ($50.75/cwt), up 15.3% from $880 per ton at the beginning of the year and up 72% from a summer low of $590 per ton.

By Michael Cowden, Michael@SteelMarketUpdate.com

Michael Cowden

Michael Cowden is managing editor for Steel Market Update. Cowden has covered the steel industry since 2007. He specializes in flat-rolled steel but has also reported on steel long products, steel pipe and tube, and aluminum. Before joining SMU, Cowden held reporting jobs at Fastmarkets AMM in Chicago, the Associated Press in Pittsburgh, and the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. He has also worked as a copy editor and in marketing at the University of Chicago Press. Cowden has a BA in English from the University of Chicago and an MSJ journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Contact him at michael@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7872.

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