US mills file sprawling trade case against coated imports from 10 nations - Steel Market Update

Trade Cases

Written by Michael Cowden

September 5, 2024

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US mills and the United Steelworkers (USW) union on Thursday filed a sprawling trade petition against imports of coated flat-rolled steel from 10 countries.

The scope of the case appears to include not only galvanized material but also Galvalume and aluminized sheet.

The petition seeks anti-dumping margins against Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the Netherlands, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Taiwan, Australia, and South Africa. It also seeks countervailing duty margins against Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Vietnam.

The US petitioners are Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI), Nucor, U.S. Steel, Wheeling-Nippon Steel, and the USW union.

That’s according to government documents dated Sept. 4-5. Some are addressed to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and International Trade Commission (ITC) Secretary Lisa Barton.

Recall that the ITC decides whether imports from targeted countries have “injured” domestic producers. If the ITC decides that imports have hurt US producers, Commerce then determines duty margins.

Coated steels – which can be made with either hot-rolled coil or cold-rolled coil substrate – are used in industries as diverse as automotive, appliance, and construction.

The case covers flat-rolled steel clad, plated, or coated with corrosion-resistant materials such as zinc or aluminum, as well as aluminum-, nickel-, or iron-based alloys, according to government documents. It excludes flat-rolled steel coated with tin, lead, or chromium (tin mill products) as well as clad stainless flat-rolled products.

Commerce is expected to decide whether to initiate the case within 20 days. The ITC will then make a preliminary injury determination within the next 45 days. Preliminary decisions from Commerce on duties are expected later this year and early next.

Final rulings in the antidumping cases are expected in October 2025. Those in the countervailing duty cases might not come until December 2025.

SDI President and COO Barry Schneider said the case was necessary because of a sharp increase in imports of corrosion-resistant products (CORE) in the first half of 2023 and again in the first half of 2024.

“Imports of CORE from the ten subject countries surged from less than 1.25 million tons to almost 2 million tons, a significant 57% increase. The surge of unfairly traded imports of CORE has had a significant negative impact on the domestic steel industry’s volume, prices, and profits, necessitating these cases,” Schneider said in a statement on Thursday.

SDI estimated the total coated market in the US to be approximately 20 million short tons (st). The company also noted that it has invested $3.7 billion since June 2019 into its new sheet mill in Sinton, Texas, in addition to four galvanizing lines with Galvalume capability as well as three flat-rolled paint lines.

“Corrosion-resistant flat rolled steel is a strategically important product to the domestic steel industry, and the restoration of fair trade is critically important,” Christopher A. Graham, senior vice president of SDI’s Flat Roll Steel Group, said.

The USW said imports from Vietnam were of particular concern, noting that the Southeast Asian nation nearly quadrupled shipments of coated products from 122,000 st to 468,000 st.

“Vietnam is ramping up its steel industry and exports at the expense of US workers, and we can’t repeat the mistakes with Vietnam that we’ve made with China in the past,” USW President David McCall said in a statement.

He also noted that the US steel industry is operating at only 77% capacity utilization amid sharply lower profits compared to 2022 and 2023.

“Once again, the US has become the dumping ground for excess steel capacity, and the USW will stand up against any unfair trade that hurts American workers,” McCall said.

SMU has previously reported that the filing hinged on the Commerce Department finding that Vietnam remained a “non-market economy” (or NME). That allowed for the calculation of higher duty margins. Domestic mills got the NME ruling they wanted last month.

It also hinged on domestic mills being able to show lower earnings to help justify claims of injury. They did that with Q2 earnings.

SMU has, in addition, reported that the case – which initial rumors said would be targeted at Vietnam – could be much larger. We noted that the coated case might more closely resemble a tinplate case filed in January 2023. That case targeted eight countries. (That case was ultimately not successful.)

Michael Cowden is managing editor for Steel Market Update. Cowden has covered the steel industry since 2007. He specializes in flat-rolled steel but has also reported on steel long products, steel pipe and tube, and aluminum. Before joining SMU, Cowden held reporting jobs at Fastmarkets AMM in Chicago, the Associated Press in Pittsburgh, and the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. He has also worked as a copy editor and in marketing at the University of Chicago Press. Cowden has a BA in English from the University of Chicago and an MSJ journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Contact him at [email protected] or 724-759-7872.

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