OREANDA-NEWS. Mexico imposed provisional import tariffs on carbon steel tubing with seams from the US, India and Spain, the latest move in the government's crackdown on allegedly unfairly traded steel.

Mexico's economy ministry set provisional duties of 56.44pc on US imports, with some exceptions, 55.28pc on imports from India and 5.15pc on imports of the products from Spain, according to today's government gazette. The government will continue anti-dumping probes of the products.

The ministry on 8 July said it would step up anti-dumping investigations and had added 86 steel products to the "sensitive merchandise" list, which targets them for stricter regulation. Mexico said it had 31 anti-dumping quotas in place, 15 of them of Chinese goods.

The latest measures follow last week's move by Mexico's three largest steelmakers to cut up to 9,800 jobs. They warned in a public letter to the government that they may cut 10,000 more staff unless the government stems allegedly unfairly traded imports.

Steel associations from six Latin American countries, including Mexico's Canacero, called on 13 July for regional governments to crack down on allegedly unfairly traded imports from China.

The groups said China's steel overcapacity is about 425mn t/yr, which is pushing companies in that country to export simply to "maintain activity and employment."

Brazilian steel executives meeting at the national steel industry's annual conference in Sao Paulo this week called on the Brazilian government to help the steel industry weather its worst crisis in memory.