Steel pipe makers object to imports from China

Twelve producers of steel tubes used in fencing have filed a new trade complaint against Chinese imports, saying they are unfairly subsidized by the government and dumped at unfair prices into the U.S. market.

The case represents the third time U.S. producers filed a case against Chinese products since the U.S. Commerce Department reversed course in March and allowed duties on China to compensate for government aid. The tube producers also filed anti-dumping complaints against South Korea, Mexico and Turkey.

“Many of these imports are selling in the U.S. even after transportation from the foreign markets at prices that are near our raw material costs,” Parry Katsafanas, president of Leavitt Tube Company LLC of Chicago, Illinois, and Jackson, Mississippi, said in a statement.

Many of these same companies filed a similar complaint on other types of steel pipe earlier last month. This case targets light-walled rectangular steel tubing used in ornamental fencing, in light construction and as material in products such as metal furniture and exercise equipment.

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The companies said in their statement that they are also considering a case against imports of heavier structural tubing from many of these same countries.

Imports from the four countries increased by 134,585 tons to 315,305 tons from 180,720 tons between 2004 and 2006, the complaint said. Imports increased by an additional 27 percent in the first quarter of this year, the complaint said.

The Bush administration, in a policy change, said on March 30 it would apply duties on coated-paper imports to compensate for export subsidies by the Chinese government.

China is the second-largest U.S. trading partner behind Canada and holds more than $420 billion of U.S. debt. The U.S. trade deficit with China reached $232.5 billion last year, the largest trade gap between two nations.

Under U.S. trade rules, the U.S. International Trade Commission and Department of Commerce must now decide if these products are being unfairly dumped and subsidized and whether the U.S. producers are being harmed by those imports. If so, the Department of Commerce will set duties to compensate.

In addition to the steelmakers, Titan Tire Corp. and the U.S. Steelworkers filed a joint case June 19 against subsidized off-road tire imports from China. Those imports grew to $374.25 million in 2006 from $166 million in 2004, the petition said.

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