IREPAS BARCELONA: Turkish exporters expect US trade case to lead to duties

Rebar exporters in Turkey are expecting the anti-dumping investigation against imports of the product into the USA to lead to small duties, Celsa’s international commercial director, Kim Marti said on Tuesday April 1 at the International Rebar Exporters and Producers Assn (Irepas) meeting.

Paragraph entered by Atlantic migration, in order for SteelFirst articles to display correctly on Metal Bulletin.

Speaking in his role as the chairman of the committee of producers, Marti said the risk of duties would be unlikely to deter Turkish sellers exporting to the US.

“The final decision is expected to lead to duties, but not big ones, so exporters are confident that they will continue to export to that market,” Marti said.

The US Commerce’s Department’s International Trade Administration (ITA) is scheduled to make a preliminary decision on the anti-dumping case on April 18.

Market sources on the sidelines of the conference told Steel First that duties are anticipated to be about 2-3%.

“The US will continue to be a big market [for Turkish rebar exports],” one source said.

On Monday, Bernd Neuenkirchen from Coutinho & Ferrostaal International told delegates that trade figures for rebar imports from Turkey showed no sign of weakening, despite the ongoing investigation.

In February, a preliminary ruling by the ITA decided that no countervailing margins against rebar imports from Turkey would be applied.

Turkish Steel chairman Namik Ekinci criticised countries implementing trade barriers earlier at the Irepas event.