10/15/2009
NEWS BRIEFS
Importers Challenge U.S. Tariffs on Chinese and Taiwan Standard Fasteners
Porteous: Scope of AD petitions includes fasteners not produced in U.S. since 1960s
Fastener worker at Nucor Fastener facility in St. Joe, IN (courtesy Nucor Fastener).
What’s Next
U.S. ITC investigator Joshua Kaplan’s report on material injury to the domestic fastener industry is due on November 2, 2009, with a trade commission vote scheduled for November 6.
A preliminary determination in the case must be issued by November 9, unless the Commerce Department extends the time for initiation.
Preliminary findings are due by November 17 at the Commerce Department by, which will take a couple of months to determine the “extent of unfair pricing” before making a preliminary ruling.
Final dumping and countervailing rulings are due by June 2010.
The last stage of the cases involves a final procedure by the U.S. ITC, which includes a formal hearing before the full trade commission. All testimony at this proceeding will be given under oath, with the commission’s final ruling due in June 2010.
U.S. importers selected Porteous Fastener CEO Barry Porteous to testify for them at a conference held at the U.S. International Trade Commission headquarters in Washington DC on Wednesday, October 14.
Barry Porteous said the low-carbon nuts that Nucor Fastener seeks to produce if its antidumping and countervailing duty petitions against standard fasteners from China and Taiwan are successful have not been manufactured on a large scale in the U.S. since the 1960s.
Porteous asserted that a tariff against such components would not protect American businesses because no U.S. manufacturer currently produces them except by special request.
Porteous said that his company did business with Nucor because Nucor offered prices that were already lower than their competitors.
Nucor Fastener lead attorney Alan Price argued that the domestic fastener industry is at risk because Chinese and Taiwanese fastener companies are able to offer significantly cheaper standard nuts, bolts and capscrews.
“This case is filed…when the (domestic) industry is on the brink of extinction,” Price told an ITC panel.
The panel also heard testimony from Nucor Fastener general manager Tom Miller, who claimed that Chinese and Taiwanese exporters were able to offer Grade 2, Grade 5 and Grade 8 nuts and bolts at prices lower than what the raw materials cost U.S. producers. The effect of these low prices was heightened as the U.S. economy worsened and more people needed to make their purchasing decisions based on the bottom line, he said.
David Aman, National Sales Manager of Sems and Specials, testified as well, saying the ability to provide low-cost fasteners is crucial to surviving the current economic environment.
“The single most important factor is price,” Aman stated.
Both sides agreed that automotive and aerospace fasteners should not be considered in the scope of the ITC’s investigation, but the coalition of importers argued that many OEM nuts should not be eligible for a tariff at all because they are specially designed or made from a print.
Neither side brought up the European Union tariffs successfully implemented against certain Chinese fasteners at the beginning of 2009. The petitioners said they would follow up with that information in their post-conference report.
Nucor Fastener files antidumping and countervailing duty petitions on September 23 against standard fastener imports from China and Taiwan. The petitions allege average dumping margins of 145% for Chinese imports, and 74% for imports from Taiwan.
Attorneys for Nucor Fastener are currently finalizing the petitions’ scope with the U.S. Department of Commerce.
“The heart of this investigation is focused on standard bolts, standard cap screws and standard nuts,” Nucor Fastener attorney Daniel Pickard told FIN.
The original scope of Nucor Fastener’s petitions includes “ASTM A194, ASTM A307, ASTM A307A, ASTM A325, ASTM A325M, ASTM A325T, ASTM A325-3, ASTM A354, ASTM A354 (grade BD), ASTM A449, ASTM A490, ASTM A490-3, ASTM A563 (grades C, C3, DH, and DH3), ASTM F568, ASTM F1852, ASTM F2280, SAE 2, SAE 5, SAE 8, SAE J429, SAE J1199, ISO 898-1, ISO 898-2, ISO 4759-1, ISO 8992, and the IFI’s ‘Inch Fastener Standards’ and ‘Metric Fastener Standards.'”
All stainless steel fasteners are excluded from the scope. Also excluded are “proprietary or modified fasteners” made to aerospace and automotive OEM specs and consumed by those OEMs.
Any person may submit to the Commission on or before October 19, 2009, a written brief containing information and arguments pertinent to the subject matter of the investigations. These briefs must be mailed to: United States International Trade Commission, Office of Investigations, Room 615, 500 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20024. ©2009 GlobalFastenerNews.com
Related Stories:
• Fastener Industry Responds to AD & Countervailing Petitions
• Nucor Fastener Files Antidumping Case Against Fasteners from China and Taiwan
• China Requests WTO Panel To Investigate EU Screw Tariffs
• U.S. Commerce Dept. Initiates Investigation on Standard Fastener Imports from China and Taiwan
• U.S. Commerce Dept. Initiates Antidumping and Countervailing Investigations on China and Taiwan Fasteners
• Proposed Antidumping Scope Finalized in Nucor Fastener Case
• EFDA: Steel Subsidies “Real Problem” on Chinese Fastener Imports
• ITC Set To Vote on Fastener Dumping Charge Against China and Taiwan
• Commerce Dept. Extends Antidumping Response Period
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