Steel Products

Commerce Finds Critical Circumstances in Tin Mill Products Trade Case

July 27, 2023

The US Department of Commerce this week ruled that critical circumstances exist in part in the trade case investigating illegal subsidies on tin mill products from China, meaning duties may be applied retroactively.

Recall that Cleveland-Cliffs and the United Steelworkers (USW) union in January filed a trade case seeking countervailing duties for tin- and chromium-coated steel sheet from China, as well as antidumping duties on a handful of countries.

Commerce this week preliminarily ruled that critical circumstances exist for just one Chinese company – Baoshan Iron. The company has failed to cooperate with Commerce, according to a Federal Register filing.

‘Critical circumstances’ exist when there are “massive imports” over a “relatively short period” of time, according to Commerce’s rules. An increase of 15% or more in imports from a base period is considered “massive.”

In this case, Commerce considered the four months immediately preceding and the four months following the filing of the original petition in January. When comparing the base period of November 2022 through January 2023, the agency found a 23.6% increase in the subject imports from February through April 2023.

If Commerce makes the same affirmative critical circumstances finding in its final ruling, scheduled for Oct. 30, CVDs will be applied against, and cash deposits will be required on, imports from Baoshan beginning on March 28, 2023. That’s 90 days before Commerce’s preliminary determination.

In that preliminary decision, Commerce determined countervailable subsidy rates of 542.55% for Baoshan, and 89.02% for Jingtang, and all other Chinese companies.

Imports of Chinese tin mill products have been subject to those CVDs since Commerce’s initial ruling in June.

Laura Miller

Laura Miller is a reporter and editor for Steel Market Update. She has held a variety of positions within the steel industry since 2007, including reporting and editing for Steel Business Briefing/Platts, the Association for Iron and Steel Technology, and Kallanish Commodities, as well as marketing for what was then known as ThyssenKrupp Steel USA (now AM/NS Calvert). After a five-year hiatus working across other industries, she returned to steel in 2021 and has covered the flat rolled, tubular, and trade areas of the industry. She is a member of the Association of Women in the Metal Industries and a past-president of the AWMI Pittsburgh Chapter. She holds a BA in Latin American Studies from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She can be reached at laura@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7869.