Trade Cases

Coated trade case alleges hefty dumping margins

Written by Laura Miller

September 6, 2024

Domestic mills have alleged substantial dumping margins in the trade case targeting imports of corrosion-resistant flat-rolled steel.

The case’s petitioners, Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI), Nucor, U.S. Steel, Wheeling-Nippon Steel, and the United Steelworkers (USW) union, filed the case on Sept. 5.

The case asserts that Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the Netherlands, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Taiwan, Australia, and South Africa have been dumping coated flat-rolled steel in the US at prices below market value.

The table below shows the dumping margins alleged in the petition reviewed by SMU.

CountryMin.Max.Average
Australia45.5%51.35%48.42%
Brazil47.0%99.5%75.7%
Canada19.1%51.3%35.0%
Mexico26.67%41.08%34.16%
Netherlands12.8%20.6%15.6%
South Africa51.96%52.02%51.99%
Taiwan––67.9%
Turkey9.4%24.47%16.39%
UAE76.96%78.41%77.68%
Vietnam––158.83%
Source: US International Trade Commission

The trade case petition also argues that producers in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Vietnam have benefited from government subsidies.

Veteran trade attorney Roger Schagrin of Schagrin Associates and lead counsel for SDI and the USW told SMU, “While dumping cases require margin allegations, subsidy cases don’t.”

Subsidy cases “must contain evidence of the programs and use of the programs by foreign producers,” he said.

Petitioners believe they have laid out the evidence of those programs in their 9,000+ page case filing.

The Department of Commerce is tasked with determining the exact amounts of subsidies received during the period of investigation and then establishing the countervailable duty (CVD) rates.

The International Trade Commission (ITC) has scheduled a case hearing for Sept. 26 and its preliminary injury determination vote for Oct. 18.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect Mr. Schagrin’s position as lead counsel for two of the domestic petitioners, but not all.

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.

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