The US International Trade Commission (USITC) has issued in a preliminary ruling, saying steel pipe makers from Taiwan and eight other countries had violated the anti-dumping rules by selling their products at unfairly low prices in the US market.
In a statement released by the USITC on Friday, the commission said such unfair conduct made by producers of oil country tubular goods (OCTG), used by oil and natural gas producers from Taiwan and the other eight countries has materially harmed the US industry.
The eight other countries are South Korea, India, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine and Vietnam.
According to the USITC, five Taiwanese steel makers were alleged to have been involved in the anti-dumping case, including Chung Hung Steel Corp (中鴻鋼鐵), Tension Steel Industries Co (天聲 ) and Kao Hsing Chang Iron and Steel Co (高興昌).
Based on the USITC’s initial ruling, the US Department of Commerce will continue its own investigations and is scheduled to issue a preliminary decision by Dec. 9 to determine anti-dumping tariffs against the OCTG exporters from the nine countries. A final decision on the duties by the department is expected next year.
On July 2, US steel manufacturers filed a complaint with the department, accusing their counterparts in the nine countries for dumping OCTG in the US market. In addition, US steel makers have also accused India and Turkey of violating anti-subsidy rules.
The US steel industry has asked the department to impose anti-dumping tariffs between 68.44 percent and 70.98 percent on the accused Taiwanese exporters.
According to the department, Taiwan’s OCTG exports to the US totaled US$89.81 million last year, up from US$43.16 million in 2010, and US$80.75 million in 2011.
OCTG exports to the US market from the nine countries reached nearly US$1.8 billion last year, more than double the total in 2010.
Before the USITC ruling, representatives from the five Taiwanese companies defended the companies in a hearing held by the commission late last month, saying Taiwan’s exporters are unlikely to harm US suppliers as the volume of OCTG exports to the US has been limited.
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