US Slaps Anti-Dumping Duty on CRC Imports from 7 Countries

The US Department of Commerce has imposed anti-dumping duty as high as 266% on CRC imports from China while anti-dumping duty imposed on imports from other countries is in the range of 5% to 72%.

In a move to protect domestic steel industry from cheaper imports after thousands of steel workers were laid off due to production cut or plant closures, US imposed anti-dumping duty on CRC imports from seven countries including India.

This includes China, India, Brazil, Korea, Japan, Russia, and United Kingdom. The duty imposed on Chinese CRC imports is a whooping 266% whereas on Indian imports it is 7%.

However it is found that the case is more critical for producers from China, Japan and Russia as they will have to pay duties retroactively. The final decision on the same is awaited between May to July.

In Jan’16, US’s CRC import from the above seven countries was accounted at 19,437 tonnes. Highest import volumes was registered from Korea at 10,463 tonnes while China and UK exported only 29 tonnes and 316 tonnes respectively. No imports were booked from India in Jan’16.

Although countries like China, India, and UK did not have much share in US’s CRC imports in Jan’16, the anti-dumping trade case was filed by US’s steel majors in Jul’15 and the case was extended numerous times.

Along with anti-dumping duty, US has already imposed countervailing duties on CRC imports from Brazil, China, India and Russia in Dec’15. Indian producers face preliminary countervailing duty in the range of 2.85%-7.71%.

Anti-Dumping Duties Imposed by US on CRC Import

FoB prices in USD/MT
Source: SteelMint Research

 Steel Stock Prices Soar in US

After the anti-dumping duty announcement, stock prices of companies such as US Steel,  Arcelor Mittal and AKS Steel, Timken Steel moved up today.

Steel makers in US have been dealing with pricing pressure and weak earning owing to cheap imports especially from China. Even US’s steel industry outlook for 2016  have been very bleak.  However after yesterday’s anti-dumping duty announcement, the outlook of steel industry have  improved and increase in earnings of steelmakers is also expected.