A group of US rebar producers including Nucor Corp., Gerdau Ameristeel Inc. and Commercial Metals Company has filed a request with the US Department of Commerce (DOC) that it investigate whether major Turkish rebar producer ICDAS has resumed dumping in the US market.
ICDAS was excluded from the antidumping order which applies to imports of rebar from Turkey after the US DOC determined that ICDAS had not engaged in dumping for three years. However, after a voluntary remand determination from the Court of International Trade, the DOC subsequently reviewed the margin for ICDAS and found that the company had dumped during this period and therefore should not have been revoked from the order.
The Court of International Trade did not rule on the DOC's revised determination, however, and the DOC accepted an agreement from ICDAS that it would not dump in the future and would consent to the order should it resume dumping.
The counsel for the US steelmakers says their request provides the DOC with new information showing that ICDAS has resumed selling rebar in the US at dumped prices.
"The Commerce Department has emphasized that exclusion from an antidumping order does not give foreign manufacturers a license to resume dumping," said Alan Price of Wiley Rein LLP, counsel to the domestic producers. "We are asking the Department to follow through on that commitment."
If the DOC grants the request, it will conduct an investigation to determine whether ICDAS has resumed dumping. If it makes an affirmative determination, the antidumping order on rebar from Turkey would be reinstated for ICDAS.