AK Steel has joined other major domestic steel producers in filing anti-dumping and counter-vailing duty petitions against five countries related to corrosion-resistant steel, the Butler County based steelmaker announced Wednesday.

The petitions charge that unfairly traded imports of corrosion-resistant steel from China, India, Italy, South Korea and Taiwan are causing material injury to AK Steel and the domestic steel industry. The petitions further charge that significant subsidies have been provided to the foreign producers by the governments of those countries.

AK Steel produces corrosion-resistant steel for the automotive, infrastructure and manufacturing industries, which comprised nearly 46 percent of the company’s shipments last year.

“AK Steel and the domestic industry have been facing a tidal wave of what we believe are unfairly dumped and subsidized imports of corrosion-resistant steel coming into this country,” said James Wainscott, chairman, president and chief executive officer of AK Steel, in a written statement. “These unfairly traded imports have seriously impacted pricing in the U.S. market, which has resulted in a significant negative effect on our production, sales, and earnings.”

West Chester Twp.-based AK Steel was joined in filing the petitions by Arcelor Mittal USA, California Steel Industries, Nucor Corp., Steel Dynamics Inc. and United States Steel Corp. The petitions were filed Wednesday with the United States Department of Commerce and the United States International Trade Commission.

Last year, AK Steel won a trade case affecting a different type of steel product, when the U.S. International Trade Commission determined that the domestic industry producing non-oriented electrical steel is materially injured by reason of dumped and subsidized imports from six countries. As a result, antidumping orders are imposed against imports from all six of those countries accused of importing steel at unfairly low prices.

 

journal-news.com

Report Abuse