On June 8, the US Department of Commerce (DOC) will initiate a "minor alteration anti-circumvention proceeding" with respect to wire rod from Mexico.
The purpose of the proceeding is to determine whether wire rod with an actual diameter measuring between 4.75 mm and 5.0 mm results from a minor alteration and, thus, constitutes a change that is so insufficient that the wire rod is subject to the antidumping (AD) order on wire rod from Mexico.
The DOC with establish a schedule for interested parties to submit comments and rebuttal comments, and it may prepare questionnaires for the Mexican producers/exporters. The DOC will issue a preliminary determination-likely several months from now-and give parties an opportunity to comment before it makes its final determination.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, this case began on February 11, 2011, when two groups of US wire rod producers-ArcelorMittal USA, Gerdau Ameristeel US (now Gerdau Long Steel North America), and Evraz Rocky Mountain Steel; and Nucor Corporation and Cascade Steel Rolling Mills Inc.-submitted scope/anticircumvention petitions against small diameter wire rod in connection with the AD order against carbon and certain alloy steel wire rod from Mexico. The petitions claimed that two Mexican producers/exporters-Deacero S.A. de C.V. and Ternium Mexico S.A. de C.V. (formerly Hylsa S.A. de C.V.)-exported wire rod with a diameter of 4.75 mm to the US. The scope of the AD order covers wire rod "5.00 mm or more...in solid cross-sectional diameter."
The DOC did however decline to initiate a scope inquiry because it concluded that the diameters mentioned in the scope language (i.e., "5.00 mm or more") refer to actual diameters. The US producers had claimed that the 4.75 mm rod product is within the scope of the AD order because it falls within the tolerance parameters of 5.00 mm rod. However, the DOC rejected this claim and found that wire rod with an actual diameter less than 5.00 mm is not within the scope of the order on wire rod from Mexico.
The products subject to this order are currently classifiable under the subheadings of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS): 7213.91.3011, 7213.91.3015, 7213.91.3092, 7213.91.4500, 7213.91.6000, 7213.99.0030, 7213.99.0090, 7227.20.0000, 7227.90.6010, and 7227.90.6080.