Poplar Bluff, Missouri-based steel nail producer Mid Continent Nail Corporation (Mid Continent) requested Thursday that the US Department of Commerce and the US International Trade Commission (ITC) impose antidumping duties on imports of steel nails from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Mid Continent filed an antidumping duty petition alleging that unfairly traded imports of steel nails from the UAE are materially injuring the US industry. Mid Continent's petition indicates antidumping margins ranging from 64 to 87 percent.
The petition demonstrates that unfairly priced imports of steel nails are injuring the US industry by undercutting prices and taking their sales by using unfair trading practices. Antidumping duties are intended to offset the amount by which a product is sold at less than fair value in the US.
Dumped imports of steel nails from the UAE constitute a large and increasing share of the US market. Imports of mails from the UAE surged nearly 150 percent from 2008 to 2010, growing from 48,256 net tons in 2009 to nearly 120,000 net tons in 2010. UAE shipments accounted for 28 percent of all nail imports in 2010, compared to 8 percent in 2008. This enormous increase was all the more remarkable in light of the depressed US construction and housing markets and the global recession.
"The enormous growth in imports from the UAE over the past three years has been made possible by dumping these products in the US market, hurting US producers and their workers," said David W. Libla, founder and President of Mid Continent. "Even as demand for steel nails has fallen sharply over the past three years, UAE imports have flooded our market. Our industry has lost four producers in just the past three years. US producers need relief from dumped imports to prevent further plant closures and to allow our industry to return to healthy profit levels."