The US International Trade Commission made an affirmative final ruling in investigations of rebar steel imports from Turkey and Japan, it said Friday, and as a result, duties will be formalized.
The ITC found that a US industry was materially injured by dumped rebar from Turkey and Japan and subsidized rebar from Turkey.
On May 16, the US Department of Commerce decided to impose a 5.39% dumping margin for Turkey's Habas, a 8.17% margin for Icdas and a 6.94% margin for all other Turkish companies. The applicable cash deposit rates are 5.18%, 8% and 6.77%, respectively.
For Japanese steel companies, Commerce imposed dumping margins of 206.43% to 209.46%.
Commerce also issued a 16.21% subsidy rate for Habas, but early this week, it revised the rate to 15.99%. Other Turkish rebar producers and exporters are subject to a much lower dumping margin.
"While this is an important result, it is far from the only step necessary to address the steel import crisis affecting the domestic rebar industry," Alan Price, attorney at Wiley Rein and counsel to the petitioners in the trade case, said in a statement. "We urge the President to provide comprehensive relief in the steel Section 232 proceeding to address fully the national security implications caused by massive global excess capacity."
The Rebar Trade Action Coalition and individual members -- Byer Steel, Commercial Metals Co., Gerdau Long Steel North America, Nucor and Steel Dynamics Inc. -- petitioned for the investigations on September 20, 2016.
Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 allows the US Secretary of Commerce to conduct an investigation to determine whether articles are being imported into the US in such quantities or under such circumstances as to threaten to impair national security.
This is the second rebar trade case against Turkish mills in the last few years. In 2014, Commerce imposed a 1.25% dumping margin on all Turkish rebar exporters except Habas, which is why Habas was the sole Turkish target in the 2016-2017 subsidy investigation.
The 1.25% margin is still being contested at Court of International Trade, but in January, Commerce issued a redetermination, revising the 1.25% margin to 2.44%.
The new rate is pending final approval at the CIT.
The actual realized rate was even lower in the most recently finalized administrative review. In the September 15, 2014-December 31, 2014 review period, Commerce found effectively no subsidy rates for all Turkish companies except Habas.
The ITC report on Friday showed the 10 US rebar producers shipped about 6.7 million st of rebar in 2016, and apparent US consumption is 8.8 million st. Imports represented 21.6% of apparent US consumption in 2016.
Turkey shipped 1.35 million mt (1.49 million st) of rebar to the US in 2016, according to Commerce. Japan shipped 268,323 mt (295,775 st) of rebar to the US in 2016.
An antidumping investigation of Taiwanese rebar is ongoing, with Commerce's final determination expected around July 5.
