OREANDA-NEWS. September 25, 2015. AK Steel (NYSE: AKS) said today that the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has made a preliminary determination that hot-rolled steel produced in seven foreign countries is causing injury to AK Steel and the domestic steel industry. The preliminary injury determination means that cases against hot-rolled steel imports from the seven named countries will proceed.

“We are pleased that the ITC has made a preliminary ruling against dumped and subsidized imports of hot-rolled steel," said James L. Wainscott, Chairman, President and CEO of AK Steel. "This ruling is an important step in the process to fight unfairly traded imports of hot-rolled steel."

AK Steel and certain other domestic steel producers filed petitions with the ITC and the United States Department of Commerce (Commerce Department) on August 11, 2015, charging that unfairly traded imports of hot-rolled steel from Australia, Brazil, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Turkey, and the United Kingdom were causing material injury to the domestic industry. Anti-dumping cases were filed against all seven countries. Counter-vailing duty cases were filed against Brazil, South Korea, and Turkey. The cases now move to the Commerce Department for determinations as to whether foreign producers are violating U.S. anti-dumping law by selling their products at less than fair value in the United States and U.S. counter-vailing duty law by selling merchandise that benefits from unfair government subsidies.

The Commerce Department will calculate dumping margins, which are designed to offset the amount by which the product is sold at less than fair value, and subsidy rates, which are designed to offset the amount by which the product benefits from unfair government subsidies. Estimated counter-vailing and anti-dumping duties will be collected from importers as of the date of the Commerce Department’s preliminary determinations, which will occur on or about November 4, 2015 and January 18, 2016, respectively. If foreign producers attempt to “beat the clock” by increasing shipments into the U.S. market before the Commerce Department’s preliminary determinations, anti-dumping and counter-vailing duties can be imposed retroactively beginning 90 days prior to the preliminary determinations.

Hot-rolled steel is flat-rolled steel sheet that is primarily used in appliances, automotive products, heavy machinery, machine parts, nonresidential construction and transportation equipment. Additionally, a substantial portion of hot-rolled steel produced in the United States is used for further processing into cold-rolled and/or galvanized or plated steel products, cut-to-length plate, or welded pipe.

AK Steel
AK Steel is a world leader in the production of flat-rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steel products, primarily for automotive, infrastructure and manufacturing, construction and electrical power generation and distribution markets. Headquartered in West Chester, Ohio (Greater Cincinnati), the company employs approximately 8,000 men and women at eight steel plants, two coke plants and two tube manufacturing plants across six states: Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Additional information about AK Steel is available at www.aksteel.com.