The US International Trade Commission’s (USITC) ruled last week to let the dumping orders against corrosion resistant flat rolled carbon steel from Australia, Canada, France and Japan ride into the sunset. After intense lobbying by the US car manufacturers, this ruling was hailed as “historic”and “tectonic” by various US-based newspapers. But how will the steel market be affected once these countries can ship to the US without the dumping threat?
Looking at the numbers covering the first ten months of imported corrosion resistant flat rolled steel, the following points come to mind:
- Relatively low dumping margins against the main producers in Canada and Korea (around two percent) did not slow down shipments from these countries in any significant way.
- France and Australia had obviously left the US market and will most likely re-enter it now. This should result in keen competition and possibly lower prices.
- Despite the ten percent dumping margin against them, German mills remain the largest exporter of electrolytically galvanized sheets and strips to the US (66,878 mt year-to-date October).
- During the many years that these dumping orders have been in effect, a very large chunk of imports has shifted to other countries, like India and China. Last week’s USITC ruling will not change this.
The official report will be published early February of next year. We are looking forward to the commissioners’ reasoning as to why countries with higher dumping deposit rate margins were considered to be less likely to resume dumping than those countries with a lower margin.
* Selected Imports of Corrosion Resistant Flat Rolled Carbon Steel Sheets & Strips Jan - Oct 2006
| Country | AD % | CVD% | MT | % of Total Imports | Dumping Status | |||||||
| Canada | 2.111-18.71 | 0 | 485,506 | 13.69 | Terminated | |||||||
| Japan | 17.86-40.26 | 0 | 87,872 | 2.48 | Terminated | |||||||
| Australia | 39.05 | 0 | 58 | 0.00 | Terminated | |||||||
| France | 15.13 | 29.41 | 2,658 | 0.07 | Terminated | |||||||
| Korea | 1.6-18.0 | 2.69 | 436,169 | 12.30 | Continuing | |||||||
| Germany | 10.02 | 0 | 123,521 | 3.48 | Continuing | |||||||
| India | 617,007 | 17.40 | No trade action | |||||||||
| China | 610,798 | 17.23 | No trade action | |||||||||
| Taiwan | 462,430 | 13.04 | No trade action | |||||||||
| Brazil | 225,306 | 6.35 | No trade action | |||||||||
| Mexico | 148,956 | 4.20 | No trade action |
* The information in this table is from the US Import Administration