U.S. steel firms file complaint over cheaper imports

By Nick Carey and Krista Hughes

CHICAGO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. steel companies on Wednesday filed a complaint with the U.S. government over cheaper imports of corrosion-resistant steel from China, India, Italy, South Korea and Taiwan, kicking off a process that could end in import duties.

The companies alleged steel producers in the five countries benefited from a wide range of subsidies not available to their American counterparts. The firms have identified 48 different subsidy programmes in China, 88 in India, 12 in Italy, 43 in Korea and 22 in Taiwan.

The U.S. steel producers alleged that dumping margins - the rates at which the foreign steel producers managed to keep prices artificially low - ranged from just over 70 percent for corrosion-resistant steel from India to over 120 percent for products from China and Italy.

The complaint was filed with the Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission by United States Steel Corp , Nucor Corp , Steel Dynamics Inc, ArcelorMittal USA, AK Steel Corp [AKST.UL] and California Steel Industries.

Corrosion-resistant steel is a steel sheet coated or plated with a corrosion- or heat-resistant metal to prevent corrosion.

Imports of corrosion-resistant steel from the five countries targeted by this case increased by 85 percent to 2.75 million tons in 2014 from 1.5 million in 2012.

The companies said the imports caused material injury to the domestic industry and significant subsidies had been provided to producers by the governments of the other countries.

The investigative process to determine whether U.S. steel producers have been injured could take up to a year.

(Editing by Bill Trott and Jeffrey Benkoe)