Trade Cases
A&T Stainless Seeks Tariff Exclusion, Hopes to Restart Midland DRAP Line
Written by Tim Triplett
December 21, 2021
A&T Stainless – a joint venture between Allegheny Technologies and China’s Tsingshan Group – has filed a request with the Commerce Department asking for a Section 232 tariff exclusion to import hot-band coils from Indonesia. If granted, A&T intends to restart the Midland, Pa., Direct Roll Anneal and Pickle (DRAP) line that was idled in July 2020.
“The joint venture idled the line in a manner that would allow operations to resume if circumstances changed. Through this request, A&T has the opportunity to support the market, benefit from current market conditions and bring employees back to work by restarting idled assets,” Danielle Carlini, A&T Stainless General Manager, told Steel Market Update.
About 70 Midland-based employees were affected by the idling last year “due to Section 232 tariffs that make the business unsustainable,” the company said at the time. A&T Stainless had imported semifinished stainless slab from Indonesia to produce 60-inch wide stainless sheet products, until it had to pay the 25% Section 232 tariff.
While the United Steelworkers support the opening of the Midland plant, and the jobs it would bring back, the union opposes the company’s exclusion request, maintaining that ATI could produce the steel in the U.S. rather than importing it from Indonesia.
“USW ATI locals are more than supportive of restarting the Midland facilities, but as usual the company is only telling half the story,” said the union in a Dec. 20 communication to members. “If ATI would expand the lucrative stainless business, Midland could easily be operating with coils produced in Breckenridge, Pa. But after two labor disputes since 2015, ATI is now attempting an end around to bring these coils into the U.S., even though ATI can produce and process the material within the company’s facilities in the U.S.”
By Tim Triplett, Tim@SteelMarketUpdate.com
Tim Triplett
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