Colombian steelmakers Corpacero SA and Ternium Colombia filed last month a request to the nation’s Ministry of Industry and Tourism (MINCIT) to investigate imports of corrugated galvanized sheets, the ministry announced on April 2.
The local steel producers asked the government to impose safeguarding duties over the imports of the steel products after the investigation ends.
The products under investigation fall under the Colombian HS codes 7210.41.00.00 and 7225.92.00.90, MINCIT said.
The steelmakers argued in their joint request that imports of the products rose significantly after the second half of 2016, following the expiration of existing duties on July 2016.
As the duties ended, there was an 85.9 percent growth in imports of corrugated galvanized sheets from H2 2015 to H1 2016 as compared from H2 2016 to H1 2017, from 14,242 mt to 26,474 mt, respectively. China accounted for 18,838 mt of the imports for the H2 2016-H1 2017 period.
When the duties were in effect, imports of the products used to come mainly from the US and Brazil, but after the levies ended, neither Brazil nor the US exported the product to Colombia.
Acesco, Corpacero and Ternium produce 100 percent of the nation’s corrugated galvanized sheets, and Acesco accounts for half of the country’s corrugated galvanized sheet capacity.