Steel Duties to Soar on Trade Panel Finding

A U.S. trade agency said stainless steel imports from Japan, South Korea and Spain have hurt Slater Steel Inc., one of North America’s biggest specialty steel makers, clearing the way for duties of as much as 115%.

The decision, the latest victory by the U.S. steel industry in its effort to repel imports from the U.S. market, affects such companies as Japan’s Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd., Daido Steel Co. and Aichi Steel Corp.

The International Trade Commission said the foreign producers were selling L-shaped stainless steel products, used by food processors and chemical makers, at unfairly low prices. As a result, the Commerce Department will levy duties of as much as 115% on imports from Japan, 100% on Korean products and 61% on imports from Spain.

“Slater needed the pricing relief because it has had such huge losses in the last three years,” said Mary Staley, a lawyer who represented the company before the ITC, an autonomous agency.

“They lost market share, they lost money, their shipments went down, their production went down, they had to lay off workers.”

Slater, based in Mississauga, Canada, brought the complaint with the United Steelworkers of America on behalf of its Fort Wayne, Ind.-based specialty steel division.

The company said last week that its first-quarter profit fell 22%, blaming a slowing economy, higher energy costs and rising imports.

Fourteen steel firms have declared bankruptcy since 1998, most claiming they were hurt by imports.

The industry is pushing the Bush administration to implement broad restrictions on imports of all steel products so it can restructure without added pressure from foreign competition.

Imports of the stainless steel product, known as “angle,” took about 70% of the $100 million U.S. market last year, Staley said. Products from Japan, South Korea and Spain took about 90% of that total, she said.

Commerce Department statistics show that shipments from South Korea rose to 11.7 million pounds in 2000 from 10.1 million the previous year, while those from Spain hit 9.2 million pounds in 2000 versus 7.5 million in 1999. Japan’s shipments were relatively unchanged during the two years.

That rising import penetration cost 50 to 60 Slater jobs in Indiana, Staley said.