Mexico's ministry of economy is reviewing an agreement that imposes conditions on the country's imports of cold-rolled sheet steel from South Korea's Posco and Hyundai Hysco, it said Wednesday. Hyundai Hysco parent company Hyundai Steel requested the review.
In June 2013, the ministry imposed a duty of 60.4% on coils from Posco and a duty of 6.45% on imports manufactured by Hyundai Hysco, but in December 2013 it dropped the investigation after the companies agreed to limit their exports and to keep their prices competitive with domestic output.
Both Posco and Hyundai voluntarily committed to export the products under investigation at a non-harmful price to the Mexican domestic market and not to exceed established limits of annual shipments.
Posco was allowed to export 400,000 mt in 2014, 450,000 mt in 2015, 480,000 mt in 2016, 500,000 mt in 2017 and 500,000 mt in 2018. Hyundai was allowed to export 10,000 mt in 2014, 15,000 mt in 2015, 20,000 mt in 2016, 25,000 mt in 2017 and 30,000 mt in 2018.
The investigation was first requested by Mexico's Ternium in July 2012 and supported by Altos Hornos de Mexico (Ahmsa). These two companies represent 100% of Mexican cold-rolled sheet steel output.
The product under investigation is cold-rolled sheet steel containing not less than 0.0008% of boron, non-coated, of width equal to or greater than 600 mm and thickness less than 3 mm.
The period set for the review was from January 2015 to December 2015.
