The US Department of Commerce (DOC) and Russian Ministry of Economic Development (MED) have agreed to a draft revision to the suspension agreement on hot-rolled carbon-quality flat steel products.
The proposed revision updates the reference prices for Q4 2012 in order to bring them into alignment with US market prices, and it modifies the mechanism for calculating percentage changes to the reference prices in the future.
The proposed revised reference prices are as follows - with the current reference prices in parentheses:
Group one: Commercial and Structural Quality Steel - A36; A1011-CS; A1011-SS-Grades 30, 33, 36, 40; A1018-SS-Grades 30, 33, 36, 40; and API 5L Grades A and B
Revised reference price: $601.75 per metric ton (current reference price: $409.01 per metric ton).
Group two: HSLA & HSLA-F Quality Steel Grades - A752; A1011-HSLAS; A1018-HSLAS; A1011-HSLAS-F; A1018-HSLAS-F; API 5L Grades X42, X46, X52, X56, X60; and API 5CT Grades J55 and K55
Revised reference price: $661.92 per metric ton (current reference price: $449.05 per metric ton).
Group three: High grade coils and sheets for pipes and casings - API 5L Grades X65, X70, X80
Revised reference price: $770.24 per metric ton (current reference price: $522.10 per metric ton).
The DOC will calculate reference prices for future calendar quarters based on the percentage increase or decrease in the weighted-average unit import values for hot-rolled steel from all countries not subject to antidumping orders over the most recent three months for which data are available compared with the preceding three months. The source for the unit import values will be the official import statistics from the US Census Bureau.
The DOC will consider comments from interested parties regarding these proposed revisions. The deadline for submitting comments is November 23.