ITC Votes To Continue Investigation Into Imported Tin Mill Products

The proceeding started in January when Cleveland-Cliffs and the United Steelworkers (USW) filed a trade case alleging the following anti-dumping margins:

• Canada: 79.59%

• China: 122.52%

• Germany: 70.15%

• Netherlands: 125.10-296.04%

• South Korea: 13.28-110.5%

• Taiwan: 46.76-59.61%

• Turkey: 87.73-97.21%

• United Kingdom: 111.92%

They also alleged that Chinese product was subsidized and that imports from China should therefore be subject to countervailing duties as well.

All five ITC commissioners sided with the Cleveland-based steelmaker and the USW. Both Cliffs and the USW cheered the result.

“Today’s vote should give pause to those facilitating the import of dumped and subsidized tin mill products from the countries at issue in this case,” Cliffs chairman, president and CEO Lourenco Goncalves said in a statement on Friday, March 3.

“Today’s decision is a step in the right direction toward clamping down on unfairly traded tin products sold in the United States,” USW International president Tom Conway said in a statement.

The next steps in the case: The Commerce Department will issue preliminary countervailing duties on or around April 13 and preliminary antidumping determinations on or around June 27.

The US imported 933,642 metric tons of tin plate in 2022, up nearly 22% from 767,352 ton in 2021, and up nearly 34% from 697,327 tons in 2020, according to Commerce Department figures.

The Netherlands (227,431 tons) was the largest foreign supplier of tin plate to the US last year, followed by Germany (222,124 tons), Canada (165,390 tons), and China (116,613 tons).

Tin mill products are widely used in packaging, notably in canned foods. They are also used to make aerosol cans and paint pails. The US has seen several tin mill idlings in recent years.

By Michael Cowden, michael@steelmarketupdate.com