WEST CHESTER, Ohio,
Aug. 11, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- AK
Steel (NYSE: AKS) today announced that it has joined other major
domestic steel producers in filing anti-dumping and counter-vailing
duty petitions related to hot-rolled steel.
The anti-dumping petitions charge that unfairly-traded imports
of certain hot-rolled steel flat products from Australia, Brazil, Japan, South
Korea, the Netherlands,
Turkey and the United Kingdom are causing material injury to
the domestic industry. The petitions allege that producers in
each of the seven countries are selling hot-rolled steel in the
U.S. market at less than fair value, with the following substantial
margins of dumping:
COUNTRY
|
DUMPING MARGINS
ALLEGED
|
Australia
|
99.20%
|
Brazil
|
21.80%
|
Japan
|
19.53% –
30.90%
|
South
Korea
|
86.96% –
158.93%
|
Netherlands
|
55.21% –
173.17%
|
Turkey
|
96.44% –
200.78%
|
United
Kingdom
|
50.63% –
161.75%
|
The petitions also allege that the foreign producers in
Brazil, South Korea, and Turkey benefit from numerous counter-vailable
subsidies provided by their governments. The petitions
identify 33 different subsidy programs in Brazil, 41 subsidy programs in South Korea, and 17 subsidy programs in
Turkey.
"AK Steel and other domestic steel manufacturers have been
significantly impacted by the onslaught of what we believe are
unfairly traded imports of hot-rolled steel," said James L. Wainscott, Chairman, President and CEO
of AK Steel. "Imports have been flooding our shores,
substantially reducing selling prices, shipment volumes, and
earnings."
Hot-rolled steel comprised over 15 percent of the company's
shipments in 2014. Hot-rolled steel is primarily used in
appliances, automotive products, heavy machinery, machine parts,
nonresidential construction and transportation equipment.
Additionally, a substantial portion of hot-rolled steel produced in
the United States is used for
further processing into cold-rolled and/or galvanized or plated
steel products, cut-to-length plate, or welded pipe.
AK Steel joined ArcelorMittal USA LLC, Nucor Corporation, SSAB Enterprises,
LLC, Steel Dynamics, Inc. and United States Steel Corporation in
filing the petitions. The petitions were filed concurrently
today with the United States Department of Commerce and the United
States International Trade Commission.
The filing is in response to large and increasing volumes of
low-priced imports of hot-rolled steel from the subject countries
since 2012 that have injured U.S. producers. Imports of
hot-rolled steel from the seven countries targeted by this case
increased by approximately 73 percent from 2012 to 2014, rising
from 1.9 million tons to 3.3 million tons. Subject imports
have continued to surge during 2015, increasing by a further 54
percent in January-May 2015 compared
to January-May 2014.
Since 2012, subject imports have substantially increased their
share of the U.S. market, while the domestic industry's share of
the U.S. market declined. China is not one of the countries
named in these petitions because imports of hot-rolled steel from
China are already subject to an
anti-dumping order.
The petitions allege that subject imports were able to penetrate
the U.S. market and capture an increasing share of this market by
significantly undercutting U.S. producers' prices. As a
result of the increasing volumes of low-priced imports, U.S.
producers have suffered significant declines in production,
shipments, prices, and profits.
The foreign producers in the countries covered by the petitions
have massive capacity to produce hot-rolled steel and have been
exporting large and increasing volumes of unfairly low-priced and
subsidized hot-rolled steel to the United States. The price
declines and market share reductions that U.S. producers have
suffered are likely to continue if duties are not imposed to level
the playing field.
AK Steel
AK Steel is a world leader in the production of flat-rolled carbon,
stainless and electrical steel products, primarily for automotive,
infrastructure and manufacturing, construction and electrical power
generation and distribution markets. Headquartered in
West Chester, Ohio (Greater Cincinnati), the company employs
approximately 8,000 men and women at eight steel plants, two coke
plants and two tube manufacturing plants across six states:
Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Additional information about AK
Steel is available at www.aksteel.com.
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SOURCE AK Steel