Trade Cases

AD/CVD Petition Filed on CTL Plate

April 11, 2016

A week ago Steel Market Update reported that three domestic steel mills would file an antidumping suit against a number of foreign countries who have been exporting cut-to-length (CTL) plate to the United States. On Friday the three mills identified in our earlier reporting filed their petition.

A trade petition against 12 countries was filed April 8, 2016 on imports of carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate. ArcelorMittal USA, Nucor, and SSAB charge that unfairly traded imports from Austria, Belgium, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, South Africa, Taiwan and Turkey are causing material injury to the domestic industry.

The following dumping margins are alleged.

An addition, Brazil, China and South Korea are charged with providing countervailable subsidies to producers of CTL plate. The petitions identify 26 different subsidy programs in Brazil, 44 subsidy programs in China, and 46 subsidy programs in South Korea.

Imports targeted by this case account for over 75 percent of total imports in 2015. The volume of CTL plate imports surged more than 100 percent from 2013 to 2015, rising from 572 thousand tons to 1.2 million tons.

According to counsel for the petitioners “Surging volumes of low-priced and unfairly-traded cut-to-length plate from numerous sources have injured U.S. producers and their workers. If remedial measures are not imposed, subject imports will continue flooding this market, causing severe injury to an already battered industry.”

The product covered by these petitions is certain carbon and alloy steel hot-rolled or forged flat plate not in coils, whether or not painted, varnished or coated with plastics or other non-metallic substances (cut-to-length plate). Subject merchandise includes plate that is produced by being cut-to-length from coils and plate that is rolled or forged into a discrete length. Cut-to-length plate is used in a variety of applications including buildings, bridgework, transmission towers, light poles, equipment for agriculture, construction, mining and heavy transportation, machine parts and tooling, and large diameter pipe.

Next steps

The Commerce Department will determine whether to initiate the antidumping and countervailing duty investigations within 20 days of filing of the petitions. The USITC will reach a preliminary determination of material injury or threat of material injury within 45 days of the filing. The entire investigative process will take approximately one year, with final determinations of dumping, subsidization, and injury likely occurring in the spring of 2017.