US Stainless Steel producers plea to reinstate Indian producers under AD duty order

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The US Stainless steel producers have demanded that two Indian stainless steel producers, earlier removed from the existing antidumping duty order, be reinstated with immediate effect on account of resumption of dumping of products by them into the US market. A group of seven domestic US stainless steel producers- Carpenter Technology Corporation; Crucible Industries LLC; Electralloy, a Division of G.O. Carlson, Inc.; North American Stainless; Outokumpu Stainless Bar, LLC; Universal Stainless & Alloy Products, Inc.; and Valbruna Slater Stainless, Inc. have demanded reinstatement of Viraj Profiles and Venus Wire Industries Pvt. Ltd. into the existing antidumping order.

It must be noted that both these Indian stainless steel producers were granted exemption from antidumping duty order after reporting zero or minimal dumping margins for three consecutive DOC review periods. The Commerce Department had granted revocation to these companies on the agreement that they will be reinstated into the duty order, if found dumping stainless steel products into the US market. It must be noted that Viraj Profiles and Venus Wire Industries Pvt. Ltd. were granted revocation from the order in 2004 and 2011 respectively.

According to US producers, the above mentioned Indian firms have resumed dumping stainless steel bars into the US and hence must be brought back under the antidumping duty rule. They have alleged dumping margins ranging from 9.35 percent to 46.10 percent for Viraj Profiles and 26.68 percent to 77.83 percent for Venus Wire. They called upon the Commerce Department to act immediately, citing that such dumping acts would cause significant damage to the local stainless steel bar producers.

The Commerce Department now has 45 days to determine whether to consider the request for review and to issue preliminary determination. If the claims are found correct, the Department can order suspension of liquidation of imports from these producers. The entire procedures must be completed within 270 days.

The petitioning companies were represented by David A. Hartquist, Laurence J. Lasoff, R. Alan Luberda, and Grace Kim of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP.

The preliminary investigation by the US Department of Commerce (DOC) had recently revealed that imported stainless steel products from China were being sold in the US at below fair value. Consequently, DOC had ordered US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to collect antidumping duties from all US importers of stainless steel sheet and strip from China. Accordingly, the DOC had set preliminary antidumping duties ranging from 63.86% to 76.64%. The US International Trade Commission (ITC) and the US DOC had carried out antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations of stainless steel sheet and strip from China based on complaints filed by domestic stainless steel sheet and strip producers AK Steel Corp., Allegheny Ludlum, North American Stainless and Outokumpu USA, LLC.