Wire rod producers file antidumping, countervailing duty petitions against China

A five-company coalition of U.S. producers of carbon and certain alloy steel wire rod — ArcelorMittal USA LLC, Charter Steel, Evraz Rocky Mountain Steel, Gerdau Ameristeel US Inc., and Keystone Consolidated Industries Inc. — has been joined by Nucor Corp. in filing an antidumping duty petition charging that unfairly traded imports of wire rod from China are causing material injury to the domestic wire rod industry.

The dumping margins alleged by the domestic industry are from 100 to 110 percent. The domestic industry also filed a countervailing duty petition alleging that the Chinese government provided significant subsidies to Chinese wire rod producers. The petitions were filed concurrently with the U.S. Commerce Department and the U.S. International Trade Commission.

The petitions were filed in response to large and increasing volumes of low-priced imports of wire rod over the past three years that have injured U.S. wire rod producers. In 2012 and 2013, imports of wire rod from China surged into the U.S. market, rising from 144 tons in 2011 to more than 614,000 tons in 2013. China now is the largest source of wire rod imports in the U.S.

The petitions allege that producers in China have injured the domestic industry by selling their products at unfairly low prices that significantly undercut U.S. producer prices. As a result of this unfair competition, the domestic industry has suffered declines in production, sales, and employment, and has seen its profitability diminish. The petitions state that Chinese producers covered by the petitions have massive capacity to produce wire rod and pose a continuing threat to the health of the U.S. industry.

If the cases are successful, import duties will be imposed, offsetting the unfair trade practices that have allowed the imports from China to injure the domestic industry.

The investigative process will take about one year, with final determinations of dumping, subsidization, and injury likely occurring in early 2015.