The company produces corrosion-resistant steel including hot-dipped galvanized, Galvalume®, and painted steel at two facilities located in Indiana, one facility located in Mississippi and three facilities located in Pennsylvania. A Baosteel spokesman said the company’s operations are based on market forces.
Advertisement
A U.S. Steel spokeswoman said the tariffs were “a good first step” and that the company is looking forward to the next decision, “encouraged that our federal agencies tasked with this critical oversight and enforcement of our trade laws will halt these harmful, illegal and unfair practices”. China exported around $71.4 million tonnes of steel in the first nine months of fiscal year 2015; an increase of 31% year-over-year (YoY).
The five Chinese companies that were found to have to received subsidies of 236 percent did not participate in the probe.
Many categories of steel are offered at such low rates that they’re “toxic for pricing”, said Phil Gibbs, an analyst for Cleveland-based Keybanc Capital Markets.
China’s output of crude steel is expected to fall to 780 million tonnes by 2020, the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) said on Wednesday, as the steel sector grapples with slower demand growth and tumbling prices.
On June 3, six United States steel producers, including Nucor Corp and US Steel Corp, filed cases against anti-corrosive steel from Taiwan, China, South Korea, India and Italy.
Shipments from Taiwan had minimal support, exports from South Korea received as much as 1.4 percent subsidies, while companies from India were subsidized as much as 7.7 percent and Italy supported exports by as much as 38.4 percent, according to the report’s preliminary findings. Total 2014 corrosion-resistant flat roll steel imports from these five countries were $2.2 billion, representing more than 50% of total 2014 corrosion-resistant steel imports.
U.S. Steel Chief Executive Mario Longhi pointed to the role of Chinese imports in a company statement Tuesday, saying that “excessively high levels of imports, much of which we believe are unfairly traded” hit steel prices.
The decision may suppress further shipments, Tanners said.
On October 30, the Department of Commerce found that at the beginning of the investigation, imports jumped from four of the five countries, China, South Korea, Taiwan and Italy.
Advertisement
The tariffs will provide a few support for prices in the USA, but a few analysts say companies are going to have make longer-term structural changes. The DOC will issue preliminary antidumping determinations against these same five countries on December 22, 2015.
