Steel Mills
Corrosion Steel Trade Case: The Simple Facts at a Glance
Written by John Packard
June 4, 2015
Steel Market Update will have a number of articles in today’s issue of our newsletter about the corrosion resistant trade cases filed yesterday by six U.S. steel mills. We will discuss what has to be proved, the timetable that a case goes through at both the Department of Commerce (DOC) and the International Trade Commission (ITC), what is dumping and we will provide more data about the products and countries involved.
But first, there is always a lot of confusion when a trade case (dumping) is filed. In this article we will attempt to provide the basics and then in later articles we will get into more details.
Who Filed?
United States Steel, Nucor, ArcelorMittal, Steel Dynamics, AK Steel and California Steel (6 total).
What Countries Were Named in the Suit?
China (PRC), Taiwan, South Korea, India and Italy (5 total).
What Products are Named in the Suit?
The suit calls out corrosion resistant steels in very detailed language (a small example is shown below) but, in the document the mills’ attorneys do state, “…Steel coated with zinc, aluminum, or any of several zinc-aluminum alloys compromise most of the product at issue.”
In layman’s terms: Galvanized, Aluminized and Galvalume are the targeted products. Prepainted steels are included in the suit.
Products such as tin plate, terne, and three-layered stainless steels are excluded from the suit.
Here is the beginning of their definition of the products being covered by the suit:
“For purposes of these investigations, the products covered are certain flat-rolled steel products, either clad, plated, or coated with corrosion-resistant metals such as zinc, aluminum, or zinc-, aluminum-, nickel-or iron-based alloys, whether or not corrugated or painted, varnished or coated with plastics or other non-metallic substances in addition to the metallic coating, both in coils, 0.5 inch wide or wider (whether or not in successively superimposed layers and/or otherwise coiled, such as spirally oscillated coils), and also in straight lengths, which, if less than 4.75 mm in thickness, having a width that is 0.5 inch or greater and that measures at least 10 times the thickness; or, if of a thickness of4.75 mm or more, having it width exceeding 150 mm and measuring at least twice the thickness. The products described above may be rectangular, square, circular, or other shape and include products o(either rectangular or non-rectangular cross-section where such cross-section is achieved subsequent to the rolling process (i.e., products which have been “worked after rolling”); for example, products which have been beveled or rounded at the edges.” (Petition, Pages 8-9)
If you would like to view the entire public version of the document you can do so by clicking here.
John Packard
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