WARREN Import duty rollback disappoints WCI officials

VINDICATOR STAFF/WIRE REPORTS
WARREN -- A WCI Steel spokesman said company officials were "disappointed but not surprised" that a federal trade panel decided to roll back duties that cold-rolled steel producers from 15 countries have been paying since May.
The 4-1 vote by the federal International Trade Commission means the countries have not been illegally "dumping" their steel in the United States and can therefore continue to import without paying extra sanctions.
"The commission has voted down every steel trade case since new steel import tariffs were imposed," said WCI spokesman Tim Roberts. "We wish they would look at each case individually. We see this as an open invitation to dump steel."
WCI is primarily a hot rolled producer, he said, but it does make some cold-rolled steel and will be affected by the decision.
WCI was one of eight domestic steel companies filing a complaint contending they were undercut by foreign cold-rolled importers selling steel below fair-market value.
The ruling, based on a one-year investigation, eliminates additional duties that the 15 cold-rolled importers have been required to pay in addition to the steel import tariffs. The commission reached the same conclusion about five other countries in August.
What happened
The U.S. Commerce Department was the first to investigate the U.S. steelmakers' complaints. It concluded that the 20 countries were violating U.S. trade laws by selling cold-rolled steel below their cost of production or below the prices they charged in their home country.
Based on that conclusion, Commerce officials imposed extra duties on the cold-rolled imports in addition to the import tariffs of 8 percent to 30 percent that President Bush had imposed in March.
Cold-rolled steel is used in some auto parts and certain kinds of pipe. It is also used to make galvanized steel.
The domestic steel companies are nearly certain to appeal.
The countries affected by the Wednesday ITC decision are Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey and Venezuela.
Australia, India, Japan, Sweden and Thailand were exempted from the additional duties in August.
Besides WCI, other companies filing the complaint were Bethlehem Steel of Bethlehem, Pa.; the former LTV Steel of Cleveland, National Steel Corp. of Mishawaka, Ind.; Nucor Corp. of Charlotte, N.C.; Steel Dynamics of Butler, Ind.; U.S. Steel of Pittsburgh; and Weirton Steel of Weirton, W.Va.
WCI, the Mahoning Valley's only remaining steelmaker producing steel from raw materials, reported its eighth consecutive losing quarter last month, citing competition from cheap foreign imports as a factor. The company employs 1,900.