Heavy duties imposed on Chinese pipe

Chinese pipe destined for the oil and gas industries will be slapped with duties when it hits the US market because the products were illegally dumped, according to the US government.

The US Department of Commerce has decided that carbon steel and alloy pipe from China has been sold at less than fair market value. Customs and Border Protection will begin collecting duties imminently. Pipe from 38 producers will be charged with 29.9% duties, while all others will have a 99.1% duty.

The International Trade Commission in December last year determined that the Chinese government has been subsidising pipe producers, and set duties ranging from 10.3% to 15.8% on top of the prices that steel pipe was being sold for in the US.

Some US$ 1.1 billion worth of Chinese pipe for the oil and gas industries was sold in the US in 2009, a drop from US$ 2.7 billion worth in 2008. The huge inventory of dumped Chinese pipe caused domestic producers to lay off much of their work force, according to the United Steelworkers union (USW).

The USW, which represents workers at pipe-producing plants, was joined in filing a trade complaint against the Chinese products by seven producers, including US Steel Corp., Wheatland Tube Corp., and TMK IPSCO.

This is the fifth pipe and tube dumping case in the US since 2007.

Source: Rigzone.com

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