On July 20, the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) determined that there is a reasonable indication that a US industry is materially injured by reason of imports of wire decking from China that are allegedly subsidized and sold in the US at less than fair value.
All six commissioners of the ITC voted in the affirmative to continue the case on wire decking from China.
As a result of the ITC's affirmative determinations, the US Department of Commerce (DOC) will continue to conduct its countervailing and antidumping duty investigations on imports of this product from China, with its preliminary countervailing duty determination due on or about August 31, 2009, and its preliminary antidumping duty determination due on or about November 12, 2009.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, at the end of June, the DOC initiated antidumping duty and countervailing duty investigations on imports of wire decking from China, following the petitions filed by US domestic producers AWP Industries, Inc. (Kentucky), ITC Manufacturing, Inc. (Arizona), J&L Wire Cloth, Inc. (Minnesota), Nashville Wire Products Mfg. Co., Inc. (Tennessee), and Wireway Husky Corporation (North Carolina).
According to the ITC's fact sheet on these investigations, from 2006 to 2008 imports of wire decking from China increased 49 percent by volume and amounted to an estimated value of $317 million in 2008, compared to $213 million in 2006 and $258 million in 2007.