8/19/2013 1:02:00 AM
HEADLINES
U.S. Threaded Rod Producers Upbeat About ITC Ruling
U.S. threaded rod manufacturers expressed their support for the U.S. International Trade Commission’s ruling against imports of certain steel threaded rod from India and Thailand.
While not surprised, domestic producers expressed relief at the determination.
“Our finished product ‘cost’ was higher than the price they were offering it to our customers for,” Bay Standard Mfg. president Greg Iverson told FIN.
“Producers overseas produce all thread rod, use similar equipment to thread the product, from similar steel and then have to ship it half way around the world and they still find a way to sell it for less than our production costs. Something is just not right.”
Larry Broderick of All America Threaded Products had a similar reaction.
“It is clear that the U.S. threaded rod manufacturing industry has been injured by unfair imports from India and Thailand and the ITC ruling simply confirms that fact,” Broderick told FIN.
Both men said the determination should help “level the playing field” for threaded rod because so many customers buy primarily on price.
“I’ve heard people say that this lawsuit is unfair, that the American producers cannot provide enough product to meet the demand,” Iverson explained. “That is not true.”
“We are happy to compete when our competitors are selling at fair market prices. What it has turned into, however, is finding the lowest bidder, regardless by what means it takes… legal or not.”
Pricing pressure from imports have significantly impacted Bay Standard, Iverson stated.
“Our company is all thread. That is what we’ve been doing for almost 50 years. Due to what this has turned into, we have had to reinvent our company to exist. That is not a bad thing… but is was not a path we would have preferred.”
Iverson compared the experience to “taking Ford, an American car builder, and forcing them to build golf carts to exist, because that is the market opportunity at the time and might pay the bills until someone makes it cheaper again and then they are forced to change to maybe make wagons.”
If the ITC decides to impose tariffs on threaded rod imports, U.S. producers have a good opportunity to recapture more of the market, Broderick explained.
“In 2012, India and Thailand exported 43 million pounds of threaded rod product to the U.S. which is subject to the trade cases,” Broderick told FIN.
“If that volume was eliminated by imposition of the duties being projected (17.93% – 119.87% on India; 63.16% – 74.90% on Thailand), then the U.S. industry would pick up most of these volumes, which would represent approximately 30 – 40% of current US domestic manufacture.”
But the ruling’s effect on the market won’t be immediate.
“This ruling will have small affects on the market immediately, while customers test the waters and wait for some defined direction,” Iverson stated.
But tariffs would spur customers to re-evaluate domestic product.
“We expect that customers will start ordering more domestic product as we move into the autumn and winter months of this year,” Broderick told FIN.
An affirmative ruling on tariffs would also save U.S. manufacturing jobs, both men agreed.
“We can successfully compete with anyone in the world if everyone plays by the rules,” Iverson told FIN. “That is what this case is about.” ©2013 GlobalFastenerNews.com
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• ITC Unanimously Rules Against India & Thailand in Threaded Rod Claim
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