Final Thoughts
ITC Votes to Drop Antidumping Duties on Steel Plate from Brazil
Written by Ethan Bernard
January 12, 2023
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) voted to remove antidumping duties on imports of Brazilian steel plate.
The ITC on Monday, Jan. 10, ruled that imports of carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate from Brazil would not likely lead to continuation or recurrence of material injury within a reasonably foreseeable time. Brazil had been subject to antidumping duties of 74.52%.
However, the ITC said that the existing orders on imports of this product from Austria, Belgium, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, and Turkey would remain in place. The US is also keeping countervailing duties on plate from China and South Korea.
The lifting of anti-dumping duties on Brazilian plate follows the five-year “sunset” review process required by international trade law. Sunset reviews require US trade officials to decide whether duties should be extended or allowed to lapse (i.e., sunset).
Removing duties on Brazilian steel has become a trend. US trade officials have also decided to let duties expire on Brazilian hot-rolled and cold-rolled coil – something that has raised the ire of domestic mills. As in other recent cases involving Brazil, ITC commissioners voted unanimously to keep duties on imports from other countries. But it was a 3-2 vote on Brazil. ITC Chairman David Johanson voted against continuing duties on Brazil along with Commissioners Jason Kearns and Amy Karpel. Commissioners Rhonda Schmidtlein and Randolph Stayin voted to continue the duties. The sunsetting of duties on Brazil is notable because it could allow the country to become a more important supplier of sheet and plate to the US market, especially since Brazil does not face a Section 232 tariff of 25%. Brazil is instead limited by its Section 232 quota. Duties were imposed on plate from Brazil in 2017 following a wide-ranging trade petition. That petition was one of several filed against sheet and plate imports in 2015 and 2016 that altered the import landscape.
Case in point: Brazil shipped 124,702 metric tonnes of plate to the US in 2014, that figure had collapsed to 7,654 tonnes by 2016. Brazil shipped no plate to the US from 2017 to 2021, and only 17.2 tonnes in 2022, according to Commerce Department figures.
By Ethan Bernard, Ethan@SteelMarketUpdate.com
Ethan Bernard
Read more from Ethan BernardLatest in Final Thoughts
Final thoughts
Is it just me, or does it seem like the summer doldrums might have arrived a little early? I could be wrong there. It’s possible we could see a jump in prices should buyers need to step back into the market to restock. I’ll be curious to see what service center inventories are when we update those figures on May 15. In the meantime, just about everyone we survey thinks HR prices have peaked or soon will. (See slide 17 in the April 26 survey.) Lead times have flattened out. And some of you tell me that you’re starting to see signs of them pulling back. (We’ll know more when we update our lead time data on Thursday.)
Final thoughts
Everybody has a plan… until they’ve dealt with volatility in the HRC market. While Mike Tyson’s original quote was about getting punched in the mouth, it’s unlikely the ex-champ has gone many pricing rounds with hot-rolled coil.
Final thoughts
Hold-rolled (HR) prices held roughly steady this week after slipping for much of April. I don’t have any spicy quotes to offer about mostly flat prices. Besides, a lot of the questions I’ve gotten recently have been about demand. Some of you tell me that it’s still stable or improving. Others tell me that it’s suddenly dried up.
Final thoughts
What a difference a month makes. In late March, it seemed like the US hot-rolled (HR) coil market was poised to cycle upward. Large buyers had re-entered the market and placed big orders earlier in the month. Several outages were underway or upcoming. And expectations were that lead times would continue to extend. Cliffs said […]
Final thoughts
I’ve gotten some questions lately about whether the huge gap between domestic hot-rolled coil (HR) prices and those for cold-rolled (CR) and coated is sustainable. I remember being asked similar questions about the wide spread between HR and plate that developed in early 2022. I thought at the time that there was no way that spread could hold. Turned out, I was wrong. That was humbling. And so I’m not going to make any bold predictions this time.