MW: U.S. to set preliminary duties on Chinese oil-pipe imports
By MarketWatch
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Washington will reportedly impose punitive duties of as much as 99% on imports of oil and gas pipe from China, following allegations by U.S. Steel Corp. and other producers that the products are being dumped at unfair prices.
Imports of the Chinese pipe totaled $2.6 billion in 2008, more than tripling in value from 2006, according to a report by Dow Jones Newswires which cited the U.S. Commerce Department.
The flare-up comes as President Barack Obama is due to visit China later this month.
A countervailing duty of 36.5% will be applied to 37 companies, which are believed to rank among the largest of China's exporters, the report said. Apart from these, duties of 99% will be applied to most other Chinese producers and exporters, several reports said.
Jiangsu Changbao Steel Tube Co. will be exempted from the duties, while Tianjin Pipe International Economic and Trading Corp. received a 36.5% duty, according to the Dow Jones report.
The new penalties are on top of duties of 10.7% and 30.7% announced by the Commerce Department in September, according to a report by China's state-run Xinhua news agency.
Thursday's ruling comes after the United Steelworkers union and six steel companies led by U.S. Steel (X 36.68, -0.13, -0.35%) petitioned for a 98.4% anti-dumping duty to offset "unfairly low prices," the Steelworkers said in a statement.
"China's government and exporters are being told we are fed up with their cheating on our fair-trade laws, and penalties for these transgressions are long overdue," reports cited Steelworkers President Leo Gerard as saying.
The preliminary decision, announced by email, will be reviewed at a U.S. International Commission public hearing on the case, to be held Dec. 1, the Dow Jones report said.
The Commerce Department will make a determination on some issues in the case, however, later this month, and another determination on the issue of dumping in February.
In late October a panel set up by the U.S. International Trade Commission to look into the case voted unanimously to allow the Commerce Department to investigate the dumping charges, saying there as a reasonable indication the imports could harm U.S. producers, according to a Steelworkers' statement.
The investigation covered industrial piping systems to convey water, steam, oil products, natural gas and other liquids and gases, according to the Steelworkers' statement.
