The US International Trade Commission determined Friday that the US steel industry was injured by imports of cut-to-length steel plate from Brazil, South Africa and Turkey, and as a result, the US will formalize the high dumping margins found in November.
The Department of Commerce assigned a 74.52% dumping rate for Brazil. It also found a 94.14% dumping margin for South Africa's Evraz Highveld Steel and Vanadium and a 87.72% rate for all other South African companies. Turkey's Erdemir received a 50% preliminary dumping margin, while all other Turkish companies would be subject to a 42.02% margin.
The margins were based on adverse facts available, as the companies did not cooperate with the investigation.
The ITC made a negative determination of critical circumstances for Brazil and Turkey, despite Commerce's affirmative finding. Because of the negative ITC critical circumstances ruling, no retroactive duties would be imposed on imports prior to September 22, the day of the preliminary determination.
ArcelorMittal USA, Nucor and SSAB Enterprises are also pursuing duties on cut-to-length plate imports from Austria, Belgium, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. They petitioned for the investigations on April 8, 2016.
US cut-to-length plate imports from Brazil, South Africa and Turkey in 2015 represented $52.4 million in value. Imports from the other eight countries in the trade case totaled $594.5 million. South Korea, Germany and France were the leading exporters of cut-to-length plate to the US that year.
