International Steel Mills

Nippon respects HR dumping decision, expects lower rate in next review

Written by Laura Miller

November 21, 2024

Nippon Steel says it respects the US Department of Commerce’s findings in administrative reviews despite the agency recently assigning the Japanese steelmaker a higher dumping margin.

Earlier this month, Commerce announced a 29.03% weighted-average dumping margin for imports of hot-rolled steel flats from Nippon. That was noticeably higher than the 1.39% margin set in the previous review. The ruling, which is still preliminary, is part of an annual review of the anti-dumping duty order on HR steel from Japan. The period of review is Oct. 1, 2022, through Sept. 30, 2023.

Nippon, an active participant in these reviews, recognizes the complexity involved in Commerce’s duty calculations and how they can fluctuate with changing market conditions. Because of this, it said it abides by Commerce’s findings.

This most recent margin “temporarily increased as a result of changes in market conditions,” the steelmaker told SMU in an email.

“However, we expect the AD margin to decline next year based on recent market price trends,” it added.

“Nippon Steel has always respected the US legal regime in assessing and remedying the impact of imports on the US domestic industry. Nippon Steel will continue its practice of fully complying with US trade remedy laws,” the Tokyo-based company stated.

A source close to the matter, preferring to remain anonymous, commented that Nippon’s exports don’t really impact the US steel industry.

As he put it, most of the company’s HR steel exports to the US are sent to a Nippon group company located on the northwest coast of the US. The company uses the material as a substrate for further processing.

Because the group company is located so far from major steelmakers in the eastern part of the US, it’s hard for it to procure HR material domestically “in a competitive and stable way,” according to the source.

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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