SDI files trade petitions against 10 countries

Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) has petitioned the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission to apply antidumping duties against imports of corrosion-resistant flat-rolled steel (CORE) from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. Additionally, the Fort Wayne, Indiana-based steelmaker is petitioning for countervailing duties against imports of CORE from Brazil, Canada, Mexico and Vietnam.

SDI says in a news release it has been joined by four other organizations in at least one or more of the cases, though it does not name those organizations.

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According to SDI President and Chief Operating Officer Barry Schneider, between the first half of 2023 and the first half of this year, CORE imports from the 10 countries mentioned in the antidumping petition “surged” 57 percent, from less than 1.25 million tons to almost 2 million tons.

“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 adds.

CORE steel is used in the production of automobiles, appliances and in many construction applications, for example, and CORE products consist of hot-rolled and cold-rolled steel that has been coated with zinc and, in some cases, aluminum, and may be painted or have other coatings applied to make the product corrosion-resistant. SDI says the present annual U.S. market demand for these products is more than 20 million tons.

“Steel Dynamics has invested $3.7 billion in our steel divisions since June 2019, including investments in a new state-of-the-art 3-million-ton electric arc furnace flat-rolled steel mill; four flat-rolled galvanizing lines with Galvalume capability; and three flat-rolled paint lines,” says Christopher Graham, senior vice president of SDI’s Flat Roll Steel Group. “Corrosion-resistant flat-rolled steel is a strategically important product to the domestic steel industry, and the restoration of fair trade is critically important.”

Under the unfair trade statutes, SDI says the DOC must determine whether to initiate the requested investigations within 20 days, and the ITC must make a preliminary determination of injury within 45 days. Subject to initiation, SDI says it expects preliminary determinations on subsidies later this year and on dumping early next year, though it notes the determinations are subject to extension.

Final rulings by both agencies should be completed by October 2025.