Commerce imposes prelim duties on ‘unfairly priced’ tinplate steel from China, Canada, Germany

Of the trio facing tariffs, the highest preliminary anti-dumping duties of 122.5% will be imposed on tin mill steel from China, including the country’s largest producer, Baoshan Iron and Steel, according to Commerce.

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) will also impose preliminary duties of 7.02% on tin mill imports from German producers, including Thyssenkrupp, and 5.29% on imports from Canadian producers, including ArcelorMittal Dofasco.

Meanwhile, Commerce preliminarily determined that tin mill products from South Korea, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Turkey and the UK would not be subjected to anti-dumping duties.

“Commerce’s preliminary findings investigate the behavior of, and seek to hold foreign producers accountable for, their unfair trade practices,” the department said in a release.

The move is a “major win” for the steel industry and will help level the playing field for US firms, sources told Fastmarkets.

“For the large, domestically integrated steel manufacturers, this is a major win in expanding the waterfront of tariffs on steel imports. These anti-dumping duties re-align the US government toward the inequities many feel have been overlooked,” Samir Kapadia, principal and head of trade at The Vogel Group, told Fastmarkets.

The Vogel Group is a bipartisan government affairs and consulting firm based in Washington DC.

“This will certainly level the playing field for US companies that have wanted to capture more market share with food can manufacturers. It won’t completely make things at par, given some countries were spared the newly imposed duties, but it opens up some pathways for growth,” Kapadia added.

“The preliminary anti-dumping duties Commerce announced today are a step in the right direction toward stabilizing our market, restoring fair prices and protecting US workers,” Tom Conway, international president of the United Steelworkers (USW) union, said.

Conway added: “If we don’t curtail this dumping now, it will eventually choke out our domestic industry, leaving us with no alternative but to rely on foreign goods.”

“Trade cheating is a threat to workers, the economy, and supply chain security…Anti-dumping and countervailing duties play a vital role in promoting free and fair trade by enforcing the ground rules for international commerce,” Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, said.

Tin-plated steel is widely used in cans for food, paint, aerosol products and other containers.

A final ruling, which will include a detailed verification process for all countries listed in the petition, is scheduled for January 2024.

Separately, Commerce is conducting a countervailing duty (CVD) investigation on imports of tin mill products from China.

The department’s findings come after steel producer Cleveland-Cliffs partnered with the USW to file anti-dumping and countervailing duty petitions against the eight countries with regard to unfairly traded tin mill products in January.

Cleveland-Cliffs produces tin mill products at its Weirton, West Virginia, operating facility and sells approximately 300,000 net tons per year, approximately 2% of total company steel sales volume, according to the firm.

The petition also alleged that foreign countries have been dumping tin-plated steel in the US, where multiple factories producing the metal have shuttered.

In February, US Steel cited rising tin mill imports and low demand when laying off employees at its idled Gary Works tin division in Indiana.

Fastmarkets most recently assessed tin 99.85% ingot premium, in-whs Baltimore at $1,450-1,750 per tonne on August 8.