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India, others dumped steel wire strand: US
Friday, 05 December 2003, 20:30 IST
WASHINGTON: The US Commerce Department has ruled that steel wire strand from India and some other countries were dumped on the American market.
It said the dumping margins for pre-stressed concrete steel wire strand imports from Brazil, India, Mexico, South Korea and Thailand ranged from close to 13 percent to almost 119 percent.
The Commerce Department ruling came even as President George W. Bush terminated tariffs on steel imports imposed in March 2002 saying the temporary measures scheduled to expire in 16 months had served their purpose.
The Department found that imports of steel wire strand from India were subsidised. It calculated the subsidy rate at around 63 percent. A subsidy is a grant conferred on a producer by a government.
Imposition of anti-dumping duties requires final affirmative determinations both from the Department of Commerce that dumping occurred and from the US International Trade Commission (USITC) that the imports injured or threatened US industry.
The final USITC determinations are expected by January 15, 2004.
Dumping is the sale of an export good at a price below the home market or third-country price, or below the cost of production. The dumping margin is the price difference expressed as a percentage of the export price.
The department also made a final determination that critical circumstances do not exist for imports from Mexico and Thailand.
US imports of steel wire strand from countries that have been under investigation exceeded $35 million in 2002.
In terminating the tariffs, Bush said the safeguard measures were imposed in response to a surge in steel imports and falling steel prices and aimed to give the US steel industry breathing space to restructure, according to a statement issued by the White House Thursday.
The US steel industry seized the opportunity by increasing productivity and lowering production costs, and consequently becoming more competitive, the president said.
Many domestic steel producers have cut inefficient capacity and strengthened overall operations, the White House said.
The three largest steel-makers invested $3 billion to consolidate the flat-rolled sector, and more than half of US raw steel-making capacity is now owned by firms that merged or restructured since the safeguard was introduced.
"These safeguard measures have now achieved their purpose, and as a result of changed economic circumstances it is time to lift them," Bush said.
Bush's decision comes less than a month after a World Trade Organisation (WTO) appellate body ruled that the additional US tariffs on steel imports violate international trade rules.
While the Office of the US Trade Representative had said it disagreed with the findings, the WTO final determination has given the European Union (EU), Japan and other countries the right to impose retaliatory tariffs on goods imported from the US. EU sanctions alone could have amounted to $2.2 billion, according to media reports here.
Source: IANS
Source: IANS