Wheatland closes pipe mill, blames imports

A spokesperson for Wheatland Sheet and Tube Co. said that they will be forced to close its Sharon, Pa., pipe mill, causing them to lay off 125 hourly and 15 salaried employees, due to hard-hitting low import prices from competitors. The company said that it has become increasingly more difficult for it to compete with cheaper import prices. The pipe industry had hoped to limit standard pipe imports from China to 90,000 tons annually. The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) had voted in favor of government action allowing quotas on Chinese pipe imports under Section 421 of the Trade Act of 1974. However, to the great disappointment of everyone in the industry, President Bush did not grant the requested quotas. According to ITC reports, U.S. imports of Chinese standard pipe swelled from 9,000 tons per year in 2002 to over 250,000 tons in 2004. In 2005 the amount of imports jumped even higher to 369,000 tons. The lay offs are scheduled to begin in late May and be completed by early June.