U.S. trade panel affirms hot-rolled steel duties on seven countries

By David Lawder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. International Trade Commission handed another victory to American steelmakers on Monday, affirming most of the recent anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on hot-rolled flat steel imports from Australia, Brazil, Britain, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea and Turkey.

The commission rejected anti-subsidy duties of about 6 percent against hot-rolled steel from Turkey, but affirmed anti-dumping duties of about 6 to 7 percent against Turkish-made hot-rolled steel.

The vote locks in import taxes on the affected products for five years. The duties are among a series of U.S. actions aimed at fighting a glut of steel imports as China's economy slows and demand remains weak elsewhere.

 

Earlier on Monday, the U.S. Commerce Department levied anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties of about 64 percent to nearly 77 percent on certain Chinese-made stainless steel sheet and strip products

The ITC vote affirmed final anti-subsidy duties of 3.9 to 11.3 percent against most steelmakers in Brazil and South Korea, but top Korean steelmaker POSCO <005490.KS> and Daewoo International Corp face anti-subsidy duties of about 57 percent.

The highest anti-dumping taxes of 34.3 percent were imposed against Brazil's Usiminas , with all other Brazilian producers facing 33.1 percent margins and just over 11 percent anti-subsidy duties.

The Brazilian government has threatened to challenge U.S. duties before the World Trade Organization in a separate case involving cold-rolled steel imports.

Britain's Tata Steel UK will pay U.S. anti-dumping duties to of about 33 percent, while Tata Steel's Netherlands operations faces final dumping duties of 3.73 percent.

Used in automotive applications, construction, tubing and heavy machinery, hot-rolled steel imports from the seven countries more than doubled to nearly $2 billion last year, with the largest share, about $650 million, coming from South Korea.

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Richard Chang and Peter Cooney)