Trade ruling pleases Wheatland Tube

By Don Shilling

Two sets of duties will be placed on Chinese pipe imports.

Wheatland Tube and its workers are celebrating a trade ruling that will stop unfair imports of Chinese pipe.

“This is a tremendous victory,” said Leo Gerard, international president of the United Steelworkers of America.

The U.S. International Trade Commission issued a unanimous ruling Friday that the domestic producers of circular welded steel pipe have been harmed by illegal trade.

The ruling said China has been subsidizing its producers, and that these producers were dumping product, or selling it below the cost of production.

In about two weeks, the U.S. Department of Commerce is to issue a ruling that will provide for duties on the importing of circular welded steel pipe from China. Duties for the improper subsidies will range from 30 percent to 616 percent. Duties for the dumping will be an additional 69 percent to 86 percent.

The duties will be in place for five years, at which time they will be reviewed.

The case was brought by the union and six domestic producers, including Wheatland Tube, which has 1,300 employees at plants in Wheatland, Pa., Sharon, Pa., Warren and Niles.

Roger Schagrin, a Washington lawyer who argued the case, said the producers have lost 500 jobs, or 20 percent of their work force, because of unfair imports. Among those were 250 workers who lost their jobs when Sharon Tube closed a plant in Sharon. That company now is part of Wheatland Tube.

Bill Kerins, Wheatland’s vice president of operations, said the company will continue to work on being more competitive so it can take advantage of the “level playing field” created by the ITC ruling.

Chinese producers will either pull out of the U.S. market or be forced to sell their product at much higher prices, he said. This will mean that all U.S. producers will be competing for more business, he said.

Schagrin said imports of circular welded steel pipe from China have increased from 10,000 tons in 2002 to 750,000 tons last year. China now has a market share of 30 percent in the U.S., he said.

The case said the Chinese government and banks have been forgiving the debt of producers and giving them grants.

This type of pipe is used in plumbing, sprinkler systems, fencing and construction.

Schagrin said this is the first of four pipe cases that have been filed.

shilling@vindy.com