The Mexican government announced that at the express request of the Spanish unit of the global steel giant ArcelorMittal, it agreed to carry out a sunset review of the countervailing duties (CVD) imposed last year on the import of type I and type H steel beams from Spain, represented by tariff codes 7216.32.99 and 7216.33.01.
Last year, the Mexican international trade authority, the Ministry of Economy, decreed a final CVD for the product in question imported from Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom.
ArcelorMittal was the company with the lowest dumping margin with the equivalent of $61.3/mt, for its Olaberria - Bergara plants. The first has a capacity to produce 900,000 metric tons (mt) of structural profiles and the second up to 550,000 mt of light profiles for construction.
For the rest of the Spanish exporters the CVD is $66.6/mt. For exporters in Germany, it is $109.5/mt and for those in the United Kingdom it is $127.0/mt.
The Mexican government said that ArcelorMittal complied with the foreign trade law, waiting a year to request the sunset review.
The national producers of I and H beams are Gerdau Corsa, Corporación ASL (Grupo Simec) and DeAcero. The importers in Mexico are Ferre Barniedo, Plesa Anáhuac y Cías, Recal Aceros and Recal Estructuras.
At the request of ArcelorMittal Olaberria - Bergara, the Ministry of Economy said, the investigation period will be from January 1 to December 31, 2023.
The ArcelorMittal argument for the sunset review is because “it is very likely that the market conditions existing at the time the compensatory duties were imposed have changed”.
In accordance with commercial laws, the CVD will remain in force during the review procedure.