*EPF305 01/16/2002
Commerce Finds Steel Bar Products Dumped in U.S.
(No dumping found for Taiwan, department says) (230)

By Andrzej Zwaniecki
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- U.S. imports of steel bar products from European and Asian countries were dumped on the U.S. market, the U.S. Department of Commerce has found.

In its final determination announced January 16, the department said the dumping margins for stainless steel bar imports from France, Germany, Italy, Korea and the United Kingdom ranged from 1.7 to more than 125 percent.

The department also determined that imports of the products from Taiwan were not dumped.

Imposition of antidumping duties requires final affirmative determination both from the Department of Commerce that dumping occurred and from the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) that the imports injured or threatened U.S. industry.

The final USITC determinations are expected by March 1.

Dumping is the import of goods at a price below the home-market or a third-country price or below the cost of production. A dumping margin is the ratio representing by how much the fair-value price exceeds the dumped ratio.

The Commerce Department also found that imports of stainless steel bar from Italy were subsidized. The subsidy rates ranged up to 13 percent.

A subsidy is a grant conferred on a producer by a government.

In 2000 U.S. imports of stainless steel bar from countries that have been subject of the investigation exceeded $147 million.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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